Mega Man's Awakening
by Deltoran Merchant
Summary: 300 years have passed since Mega Man shut down, and other tales have begun and ended. Now Mega Man returns from his eternal slumber to fight for justice once more. Have his values withstood the test of time? Or will he have trouble remembering them.
1. Chapter 1

**MegaMan's Awakening**

**Chapter 1**

"Dad… am I dying?" Mega Man asked, his synthetic and mechanical parts all felt slower, and not as swift and limber as they used to be. He'd been fighting Dr. Wily for years, maybe fifteen, maybe twenty. He couldn't remember, his internal clock had shut down months ago and the aging Dr. Light, the old scientist he called dad, just didn't have the hands to fix him as well as he used to. Now Megaman stood in the old lab, heavily damaged from his last and final battle with the crazed Dr. Wily.

Dr. Light stood in front of his android son, sad to see him in such a burnt state. The android looked like a very athletic ten-year old boy, with big blue eyes that held such bravery, determination and kindness it was hard to believe they were the eyes of a machine; but neither android nor creator thought of him as a machine. Mega Man was an android, a synthetic human and marvel of robotic science. He may have had an electronic nervous system and brain, but a lot of him was synthetic materials designed to be exactly like living flesh, but supported by robotics. The only reason he wasn't considered a cyborg was because he'd never been purely organic and the material his synthetics were made out of was not _quite_ organic, but to any eyes but those of a roboticist he appeared completely human.

Not only was his physical design astounding, but so was his programming. He had an incredibly wide range of emotions to the extent of a human boy his age. Often in peace times he had played with other children as though he was one. Even after his modifications into Mega Man he kept this childish aspect, but at the same time was capable of maturity and courage.

Originally a lab assistant named Rock, when his dad's best friend, the aforementioned Dr. Wily had begun his worldwide terrorist attacks Dr. Light had been forced to change his android son into a battle robot to protect humanity from the insane terrorist. This Mega Man had done for years and years and now at last had won. Dr. Wily's escape craft had malfunctioned and exploded, killing the scientist as he fell to his death, burning.

But Megaman's own systems and synthetics had been fried by the evil man's weapons. His skin-tight blue armor, which looked more like a jumpsuit, was torn and shredded, his blue armoured gloves and boots shattered and broken and tears through his synthetic skin and muscle were bleeding synthetic blood. His power core was smashed the most, and that was where the problem was. Dr. Light had lost a lot of money in the war against his old friend and was no longer able to obtain the parts necessary to build his son a new power core. In addition he himself had slowly been developing parkison's disease from a hard hit to the head several years previous. "You're shutting down Rock," Dr. Light said, using his creation's original name. "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do anymore, I'm too old."

Mega Man, or Rock, watched his father wipe tears from his eyes, but in the end stopped bothering and let them come. "It's okay dad," Mega Man said, himself feeling tears well up. "I know… you wanted too." He was already starting to feel his circuits wind down and his eyelids felt heavy. "As lon… as you stay me," he said, his voice starting to fail.

Dr. Light moved closer and gave his son a fatherly hug and held his small hand. "Of course Rock, I'd already planned to."

They sat together in silence, both crying as they felt each other slip away from one another. Mega Man was worried though, what would happen to him? He wasn't human, so did he have a soul? Would he just close his eyes and stand in blackness forever, never knowing anything else? Or maybe he would go to this heaven he'd heard humans talk about. That would be nice, and then he could see Roll and his dad again. Or would he maybe be reborn with a new life like people in India said would happen. Maybe he'd even be a true organism in that life.

"Dad…" he said at last. "What do ou think will h-appen to me? When I die?"

Dr. Light thought for a long time on this question. He'd never really thought about that. Trust a child to ask the difficult questions. "Perhaps you never truly die," he said at length. "Perhaps someone younger, and more skilled than I will find you and bring you back to life."

"More skilled? You're the best scients in the world," Mega Man said.

Dr. Light smiled and patted his son's hair, no longer covered by a helmet. "That's nice of you to say son. But I'm old now, and there's new breathroughs being made all the time. One day someone will find you and think you nothing more advanced than a neat little hobby. I'd like to think that a robot only truly dies when he's completely destroyed and then who knows what happens to his disembodied consciousness."

Mega Man, in spite of his situation, smiled. "I love you dad," he said.

"I know. I think it's time I told you something."

"What?"

"Well… several years ago I… made a new you. I called it Mega Man X and it was an experiment of sorts to see what exactly I could do with your programming, but to see how far it could be brought. I managed to make an android who could act even more human than you to the point where it could make its own decisions. But I got worried that without moral limitations on its programming it might make evil choices, so I locked it in a virtual reality capsule that would test it."

"Mega Man X?"

"Or Rock X, named and designed after my favourite son. If I could've been certain of the programming I'd have given it to you too."

"Thanks." Rock gasped as weakness and pain overcame him, and now shut down was imminent. He knew it was coming, and it was coming strong. "Dad…" he whispered. "Take care… yourself and have… good life. Love you," and with that Rock's eyelids closed and his body and synthetics grew rigid and lifeless.

For a time Dr. Light sat there, his sadness was endless and his tears streamed forever. It just wasn't in his power to reapir the boy, and his daughter, also an android, had been almost completely destroyed by Dr. Wily. The only bit recovered being her control chip, but he was too old to rebuild her body. So the control chip had been given to his grandson and now they were in a strongbox halfway across the country.

At last when he felt his tears had dried away he got up and proceeded to move his android son into his personal museum. He would leave him there and set up some way for a future roboticist to find him and fix him. But until that day his lab would remain as a monument and tourist attraction. People already came from far and wide to meet him, the famous Dr. Light, well for years they'd be able to see his lab, the last bit of the famous Dr. Light to remain in the world.

Months later Dr. Thomas Light checked himself into a house for the elderly. He needed care for his failing legs and a sore back. He would often sit in the garden under the trees and remember that little robotic boy, his son. Sometimes he would imagine him sitting beside him on a bench and talking to him about the leaves and these moments always made a few tears trickle into his beard. At last, about seven years after Mega Man's shut down Dr. Thomas Light passed away in his sleep. A peaceful end for the man who had been through so much violence, but at last he found the peace he'd longed for.

_(Year 2370, The Underground Ruins)_

Adam Lumin pushed open the grimy old door and stepped into the metal hallway. The wrist-mounted flashlight of his sweeped through the dust filled air as he stepped into the ever darker underground. Behind him was miles of tunnel dug through dirt and rock, but here at last he'd found the subject of his search; the vault of famous scientist Dr. Thomas Light, one of the greatest roboticists in history. The fruition of twenty years of research and study all trying to pinpoint the location of the place, especially difficult with the entire city above.

The man had just had his thiry-first birthday and a mechanical hand was his present. Though he personally couldn't help but wonder if the whole Reploid/human truce might have been something of a mistake. He always wondered why humans should've had to give up their humanity to maintain peace, or else be branded a maverick. To him it was unjust and somehow seemed like a danger. Though in what way he wasn't sure yet.

There was nothing else mechanical beyond the hand though; the rest of him was organic, with light brown hair, hazel eyes and a pair of glasses that he wore constantly. He adamantly refused to have any changes made to his eyes out of personal political views. So here he was walking through the darkness with the flashlight guiding the way. Historian and archaeologist Adam Lumin, discovers the Lost Artifacts of Light, he though as he walked. That sounded like a good headline and hopefully it would make up for the money he'd sunk into the project.

The best part was that the vault really wasn't much of a maze only a couple turns here and there with the occasional doorway. Each he opened and found nothing of great interest, but he noted each with the intention to come back later once full recovery operations began. There was one place he had an eye for and he was going to find it. The place he was looking for was the Main Vault Chamber. The old stories said that there was something incredible in there what it was he didn't know, but he intended to find out.

No sooner had these thoughts left his mind then he turned a corner and saw a very large pair of sliding metal doors, or large compared to the other doors anyways. Clearly this had to be the Main Vault Chamber. So he'd found it, but he'd have to open it and although the stories said that Dr. Light had given the keys to his family that key to his knowledge had vanished. This technology was rather old though so he figured overriding it would be easy.

In the flashlight he was able to find a small computer panel beside the doors which he connected his metal hand to and began his usual override process. Even if the loss of humanity was the price to pay for reploid peace, Dr. Lumin had to admit that robotic hands could save time in scientific expeditions. Then with a final thought the doors slid open with a beeping sound sounding in the computer panel. He stepped into the room and gazed around as suddenly lights overhead turned on.

Dr. Lumin gazed around the large square metal room. It wasn't particularly high ceilinged, perhaps fifteen feet, but it was larger in area. It was a room of robots, maybe every single robot that Dr. Light had ever created; from small robotic bugs and rovers to mechanical humanoid beings. He strolled along a number of them that had been placed on pedestals; an orange one with a pair of blades on its spherical orange head, one vaguely like some kind of penguin with a black bomb-like head, even one with a chimney-like head that maybe had spouted fire judging by the soot around the top of the head, and just the shape of it.

What really attracted his attention though, more than anything else in the room, was a massive circular rise in the floor and at the center of it in a glass tube was... a child. Dr. Lumin rubbed his eyes and looked again and realized that it was in fact a robot, an android in fact. The workmanship was astounding for even having seen several androids in his time he'd never imagined Dr. Light had built one so convincing so long ago. The android looked like an athletic ten-year old boy; from tanned skin to a slim and slightly muscled torso. He, for Lumin felt inclined to think of the android as a male considering the realism and apparent gender creation, had a rounded face that could be a match for any child's in cuteness. Why the android even wore boxers as though he were sleeping.

Hopping up on the platform he saw yet another computer terminal that he easily overrode and caused the glass case to lift up and a metal box rise from the floor of the platform. Within was a blue jumpsuit that was made of some sort of polymerized metal and a blue helmet that looked kind of like a child's t-ball helmet only without a visor and with a lighter blue ridge along the top. Suddenly it was all too clear who this android boy was. The pride of Dr. Light's life and perhaps is most fulfilling achivement, this boy was the world famous hero Mega Man.

Lumin pressed a button on a small earpiece he was wearing. "Hey there Ed, you're not going to believe what I found down here."

"A bunch of robots I imagine," Ed said from the other hand.

"Oh plenty of those, but one very, very famous one. I'll give you a hint; it fought a terrorist in a blue uniform."

"Blue uniform… would the terrorist in question be a mad scientist with crazy hair?"

"It would."

"Mega Man! You're pulling my leg. Everyone knows he was destroyed in his last battle with Dr. Wily."

"That's what we thought, but here he is. A little bruised and worse for wear, plus he's gotten some nice dust pj's, but that aside he's in repairable condition I think. He really does look like a little kid."

"This is just… amazing. You always hear stories about old heroes of war and such, but who'd actually get the chance to meet one. We should see if we can get him running again."

"We can't take things from the site."

"Oh yes we can. Told the boss that if anything down there was repairable that would be an asset to historical research than we'd be happy to do the repairs as long as equipment was provided."

"Good job. Well then let's see how heavy this kid is," Lumin said grabbing the broken and battered android like he would his nephew and carrying him back through the tunnels with the blue jumpsuit over his shoulder and helmet in his bag. He returned to the rock tunnel and with a slight struggle managed to get out back into the sunlight. Mega Man didn't weigh more than he looked and just to imagine that such technology had existed three hundred years ago was incredible.

Ed, a well built brown haired man, rushed over as his friend and co-worker came out of the tunnel and into the large park where they'd started the tunnel. "Holy crap, you weren't kidding," he said, looking at the android as he was laid down on the grass. "Pretty fit little guy ain't he?"

"You could say that. He's a robot so it's not like he can gain weight."

"You never know. I've met some pretty chubby androids," Ed said with a cheeky grin.

"Trying to stop you from flirting with them no doubt. Still I don't know if Dr. Light's technology was that advanced."

"Well the sooner we get him repaired and spruced up the sooner we'll get our answers."

"True. I'll get everything loaded up, you set up the barrier posts. Don't want any real kids sneaking in there do we?" The two men got to work with Lumin taking great care when placing Mega Man into the truck, choosing to put the boy in the back seat instead of the cargo part of the truck. He couldn't explain why, but this boy was so endearing just to look at it was like he truly was a real person. So he couldn't possibly treat him any less than any human, reploid or humanoid. Besides maybe the kid would need a home and he'd like to offer it to him. "I've always wanted a son," he mused to himself.

Mega Man felt a comfortable warmth inside him and his eyes fluttering open. It was almost like waking from a long sleep. It felt good, like life was flowing back into him. He moved his arms and felt his synthetic parts become squishy and life-like again. His vision hadn't yet cleared enough for him to tell where he was, but he was getting there. He stretched each of his stiff limbs and let that wonderful warming sensation spred to every tip of his body. "Initiate systems check," he murmured to himself. His electronic brain got to work and he felt the very vague tingles in his body as the scan ran. Within mere seconds it returned the information came into his brain. "Operating at a hundred percent efficiency? Who fixed me?" he wondered aloud.

His eyesight had come online completely now and he looked around to see a robot workshop. Various tools and parts lay scattered about the grey cement floor and the metal walls lines with charging pods and operating tables. A lot of the technology was very advanced and he ran scan after scan on them, but was unable to determine what exactly they were for. He found a mirror tucked away in a corner though he didn't really know why it was in there.

Mega Man was surprised by his appearance. He really was repaired, with his wounds having been healed over completely, having been given a wash and looking clean and perfect as though newly made; though he also felt self-conscious seeing he lacked any clothes save his red boxers. "How long have I been off?" he wondered aloud looking around the room for a door. He found it easily and pressed his hand against a screen beside the metal door.

As soon as he did so the door slid open and he walked out into a fair sized, but cozy living room with a soft carpet under his feet. He looked around and saw a large couch and two armchairs facing a television. He inspected it briefly and saw that its screen seemed to be of some material that he hadn't seen used in a TV before. Suddenly he was hit by a certain natural impulse that is common to humans and to him as well being just as much human as he was robot. He ran frantically down nearby hallways looking for a certain room. Then again he realized that he had no idea how long he'd been down and what this certain room would look like now.

"Excuse me is anyone home?" he called loudly. There was a sound of footsteps above him and moments later a man appeared at the end of the hallway.

"You've finally come online!" the man shouted. "I've gotta call Ed right away."

"But-"

"So what's it like being one of the first androids in history?"

"I-"

"What was your time period like?"

"I need-"

"Do you eat or drink or do you have self-preservation systems?"

"I gotta pee!" Mega Man shouted.

"You mean you have-" Lumin asked, taken aback by the yell.

"Yes!" Mega Man shouted indignantly. "Where's the washroom?"

"Up the stairs, first door on the right," Lumin said, watching the boy run off. He ran to grab the phone and call his friend. He'd gone with a more classic early 21st Century appearance to his home, which was more in style at the moment anyways. "Hey Eddie! Guess what? The kid's awake!"

"Alright I'll be right over. Where's he at?"

"Washroom."

"Oh, he can?"

"Apparently. See ya in a bit." Lumin hung up the phone and sat on the couch, waiting on his new guest.

Mega Man returned to the living room feeling much better now that he'd managed to relieve himself. The android boy saw the man sitting on the couch and sat down in one of the chairs at the man's inviting gesture. "Sorry for being so impatient," Mega Man said politely.

Lumin waved it away. "Oh it's no matter; I guess you could say I was a little star struck."

"Star struck? By me?" Mega Man asked. "Oh and call me Rock."

"Okay Rock, nice to meet you. I am Dr. Lumin, Robotics Historian. And yes, I am star struck to meet you; the famous Mega Man who saved the world from slavery by Dr. Wily. Everyone thought you had been destroyed in your final battle with him."

"No I was badly damaged and dad couldn't repair me… did you repair me?"

"With some help from my friend, but yes. Repaired and upgraded a bit with some current android technology to increase the efficiency of your electronic systems. Plus some various additions to your synthetics for strength and faster healing."

"Current? How long have I been shut down?"

"About… three hundred years."

Rock gaped at this information. Three hundred years? But that meant that his dad had been long dead. Before he could even respond he felt the saddness overwhelm him and force him to collapse in tears. He didn't notice the shock from the scientist or anything else around him, just the tears, the enveloping sadness.

"What's wrong?" Rock heard the scientist say.

"My creator… my father," the boy sobbed. "He's dead and I-" he couldn't finish before he started crying again. The tears flowing down his face like rivers of sadness as the cold harsh truth of being an android revealed itself to him; he had the curse of immortality.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Rock let the tears flow. His father was gone, long gone and here he was still alive. It was all just too much to bear. Even in the midst of his weeping and his misery he was mildly surprised to feel himself pulled into a warm fatherly hug. He tried to speak but his saddness overwhelmed him and prevented him from completing his sentences.

"I know how it feels, I lost my dad many years ago." He picked the android boy up and carried him to a room that he'd thought would work as a room for the kid. Lumin hoped the boy would want to stay with him, but Lumin also knew he couldn't possibly replace Dr. Light in Rock's heart. Knowing how the boy felt about the old scientist, Lumin had no intention to try. He put Rock down on a child's bed he'd bought over the past week just for the boy and the android turned over and started crying into his pillow.

"Why'd you reactivate me?" he sobbed. "Just cause you want to learn about my life and programming. Why don't you just go away and leave me alone you selfish jerk!" he yelled.

Lumin was shocked. "But I didn't-"

"Go away! Leave me alone!" Rock yelled and sank into a sobbing session into his pillow. Lumin took this as a sign to leave and did as Rock asked. As he left he noted how much the boy really was acting like an upset child. So it would be hard to say how much Rock meant what he said until he'd been given a chance to calm down.

The scientist closed the door gently and sighed sadly. A knock on the front door got his attention and he strolled down back through the living room and to the front door. He opened it to see his friend Ed standing there as excited as a child on his birthday. "So? He say anything? What's happened?" Ed asked excitedly as he walked into the house. "You've gotta let me see him."

"Um not yet," Lumin said grabbing his friend's arm. "Mega Man, er, I mean Rock is having a bit of a personal issue right now." Lumin proceeded to explain to Ed about the events that had taken place from Rock's reactivation over the past twenty-minutes.

"Poor kid, it would be really tough to wake up to a world so different from the one he shut down in. You gonna let him stay with you?" Ed asked, accepting a cup of tea Lumin had made for him before sitting and drinking from a cup of his own.

"Yes, I will let him stay with me if he wants. I'm not sure if he'll want to though."

"I hope we get to tell him about his upgrades, I'm sure he'll like those."

"I just hope he's okay."

"I'm sure he will be." Ed grabbed the TV remote and turned the television on to a sports channel. "This will take your mind off it, a good old fashioned football game."

Rock sobbed into his pillow for some time after Lumin had left. The pain was horrible, like his heart had been wrenched out of his chest. He didn't even want to speak and just kept weeping tears of unfathomable saddness. It was true his dad had already been dying the last time they saw each other, but to think he'd gone so long in shut down. He realized it wasn't just his father dying, it was everything. It was like falling asleep in the stone age and waking up in the Victorian era. His whole world was gone and who knew where the rest of his family was.

Foremost in his mind was his dad's saddened face, spending the rest of his life remembering his son. It was such a sad image and it felt like he'd let his father down. He never thought he'd know such horrible, deep saddness. His entire family was gone and he had nothing left in the world. Once again he felt upset with the scientist who had repaired him for what was the point of life without anything in it? It was these thoughts that filled his head as he drifted off to sleep.

Rock awoke about two hours later, according to his internal clock. It didn't take him long to remember where he was, and what had happened. The wave of saddness returned, but he didn't cry much now, not as heavily as before anyways. Soon he wasn't crying anymore, having cried all the tears out and now just feeling like he was in the bottom of terrible pit of saddness. He looked around the room and paid more attention to it. There was the bed in the corner down the wall from the door. Directly opposite the end of the bed behind the bed was a set of drawers for clothes. To his right and opposite the door was a desk on which sat a computer, the whole thing simply a monitor on a sizable, but still small box that took up little of the desk space. "Humans always need some level of show no matter how advanced," he mumbled to himself.

Besides this there was a closet beside the wardrobe drawers and a bedside table and lamp, obviously, beside his bed on the other side of which was a window. He hopped off the bed and went to look out into a city similar, yet very different from what he was used to. He was in a residential area that looked almost exactly like one from several hundred years earlier. The difference was some of the houses had vast differences in exterior and colour with some looking to be made of some sort of metal-plastic mix. Even in the midst of his depression he could feel his curiosity awaken. After all his primary ability was to copy tools and by extension weapons and other forms of technology at times.

In the distance he could see tall, round buildings made of the same plastic-metal material and once again there was a mixture of styles that seemed to be pulled from the last three or four hundred years. There he could see also a lot more green which was a nice thing to see in cities. Rock turned away from the window and trudged over to the wardrobe to see that it was filled with clothes. In fact they were clothes in his size! Having gotten rather sick of walking around in his underwear he quickly pulled on a pair of blue jeans, a t-shirt and socks. Taking a deep breath he opened the door and walked down the hall to the living room. There was Dr. Lumin, watching a movie of some sort.

"Um excuse me," Rock said politely. The man turned and upon seeing him a smile came onto his face, but it wavered for a second.

"Are you still upset with me?" he asked.

Rock shook his head. "No, I'm not. In fact I'm sorry I said that to you, it was rude of me."

Lumin waved it away. "It's okay; you were upset it was perfectly understandable. Do you want to come sit?" he asked. Rock nodded and sat on the couch next to the scientist. "I did you a favour Rock and thought about what I did. Whether or not you meant what you said I realized it was somewhat true. I should be asking you about your living arrangements and comfort before I let any research be done on you, that is unless you don't want to."

Rock gazed at the man with piercing blue eyes. "You didn't repair me for the research did you." He could almost see the surprise in the man's face at his perception.

"No," Lumin admitted. "I… oh this is going to sound weird." He paused and took a deep breath. "I wanted to adopt you as my son."

It was Rock's turn to be surprised, but he did begin to give it some honest thought. This man was certainly nice; he remembered the hug when he first started crying. "Did you buy all the clothes and make up that room for me?" Rock asked.

"I did. I guess you could say I was getting my hopes up. It's just… you look like how my son would've looked."

"He died?" Rock asked, though it was obvious this was the case.

"Murdered along with my wife. The boy was only four, but I used age projection software to see what he would've looked like. You look so close to him."

"Who killed him?"

"A robot criminal… we call them Mavericks. It was on a rampage and it came to my house and killed my family." Reciting these events brought a wave of sadness to Adam Lumin who took a deep breath and wiped his eyes a little.

"I've lost a father, you've lost a son," Rock mused morbidly. He knew what he had to do, but he didn't just have to; he wanted to. He felt a kinship with this man, a connection in family and so he felt sympathetic. He smiled a little as he said "I'll stay then. We need each other. It won't be the same as what we had, but it's still as good. Right dad?"

Adam smiled and nodded and the two hugged warmly. "You called me dad," he said with surprise.

"Foster dad," Rock explained. "It's easier to just call you dad though." Rock stood up with a smile on his face. It felt good to have a dad again. "So you found me in daddy Light's vault right? Well if I'm right my robot dog Rush should be in there as well. And I want find out what happened to my twin-sister Roll and my brother Proto Man."

"Sounds like a big job. We can start that tomorrow; I'm going back to the site so you can come with me."

"Why not now?" Rock asked.

"It's late, check your clock."

It only took Rock a fraction of a second to read the time as 9:15 PM. "Oh, well can we get something to eat? I'm starved." This was all a new turn on his life and Rock was happy to be awake now. Yes the loss of his father still sat in him as a great saddness, but he was happy to have a step-dad who seemed to really care for him and would help him find the rest of his family.

"Sure, oh I need to do something to you quick; an informational download to help catch you up on the world around you."

Being naturally a peaceful robot who loved learning Rock grinned. "I like information downloads," he said, looking like he was about to get a new toy. He practically ran back to the laboratory and it was after barely five minutes that he came out feeling excited as ever and spouting 'thank-yous' endlessly. "Oh what happened to my armor?" he asked abruptly, just remembering it.

"Oh that was one of the upgrades I made to you. I placed it in molecular stasis under your skin. Whenever you need it you just need to use the command 'initialize mode change: megaman'. Doesn't matter if you think it or say it, but it's coded to your voice. I hope you won't ever have to use any of your battle systems though."

Rock nodded. "I agree." His stomach growled and he giggled. "Okay I'm really hungry let's go to this Hadovan's!" He ran towards the door and was out onto the doorstep and practically bouncing with energy.

"Rock! I did get you shoes," Adam called as he walked towards the door and stopped to put on his own shoes. Rock dashed back into the house and quickly pulled on and tied a pair of red and white sneakers before dashing out the door and onto the lawn. He lay down in the soft, cool grass and was glad to be breathing fresh air and feeling nature again. It felt so nice to just be alive again. He stood up to see his new foster father backing a sleek looking car out of the garage. It still looked similar to one from hundreds of years ago, but also had a smoother and slightly sleeker more aerodynamic look. He couldn't deny that he was slightly surprised to see it had wheels.

"No flying cars yet?" he asked, jumping into shotgun.

"Only if you're super rich and super special. They're like limosines were. But they are far more environmentally friendly and a good deal safer."

Inside it really wasn't that different from a car three centuries ago in fact it was almost identical. "If technology's come so far why does everything still look so twenty-first century?"

"It's a very popular style. I guess it's an aesthetic that's just kind of stuck with us."

"Cool!" Rock said gleefully. "Oh can we go to the park after we eat?"

Adam chuckled. "Where do you get so much energy? Did I overcharge you?"

"I dunno." Rock really didn't know why he felt so energetic. He was just happy and wanted to have some fun. And indeed after eating he was ready to run around on the playground with a bunch of other kids who were allowed out late. It was a weekend so those numbers were rather high. Plus it was summer so it was still fairly light out. This was how he liked to be, just being a little kid without worries or responsibilities and he hoped with all his might that he wouldn't have to become Mega Man in the near future at the least, or ever at the most.

Once home again Rock was almost falling asleep on his feet, but he made it to his room and changed into a pair of pyjama pants before falling asleep with a smile on his face. He was glad he was alive again, and he would soon get the rest of his family back. Meanwhile Adam was thinking the same thing as he got into bed for he figured it might be nice to start dating again for he wanted his son to have a mom too.

_(Underground, Unknown Location)_

A massive computer screen flickered on in a dark, deserted lab. The screen was part of a room-sized supercomputer, and although the room it inhabited was not particularly large it was entirely consumed by wires, lights, and various other electronics. This room also served as a laboratory at one point, but had long since been abandoned.

A door directly across from the screen opened and in walked a cowled and cloaked figure that stood about five feet tall. The figure bent down into a bow in front of the supercomputer and raised its head to a rather simple looking avatar on the screen in the shape of a simplified skull on a green background. "You summoned me Mr. M?" the figure said in a deep, clear voice.

"I did," the supercomputer, Mr. M, said. Its voice was electronic with a hoarse grating sound underlying it. "The time of renewal is coming. At last I shall rise once again as the master of all things robotic. I trust you have continued to travel amongst the Mavericks?"

"The army grows by the day master. I have even managed to turn some reploids to our side."

"Excellent. Now I give you a task of utmost importance. It has come to my attention that the Vaults of famous scientist Dr. Thomas Light have been discovered. I'm downloading to you the location now. I want you to go there and retrieve for me any robots or artifacts you find. A cargo battle craft will be provided for your use. Now go my minion!"

The figure bowed out the door leaving Mr. M to its privacy. The skull avatar rotated back and forth which seemed to show that Mr. M was thinking. Another idea had entered his electronic mind and he figured he would begin to process it. The Renewal was coming though and it was where his mind was focused for now.

Rock awoke at about 7:15 AM, according to his internal clock, to his step-dad calling to him frantically. "Rock! Get up! There's been an attack on the dig site!" Adam called up.

Rock was on his feet in minutes and it took him no time at all to change into his street clothes and rush downstairs and out the door to see his foster dad already in the car. He wasted no time in jumping in and the two raced off towards the digsite, a route completely new to Rock who had been shut down while on it last time. "We have to get there before this guy gets away. What if he finds and steals Rush?" Rock asked worridely.

"We'll stop him." They pulled up onto the grass next to the dirt tunnel to see the two posts shattered and the pair of guard robots set up by Ed destroyed. "He must be inside," Adam said, looking into the darkened tunnel.

"I'll go in," Rock said determinedly. He would not let his father go against something that could be quite dangerous and it would take too long to call police. He wanted to avoid fighting, but the attacker may not agree so he knew it would have to be him who went in. "Initialize mode change!" he shouted feeling what he knew to be courage rise in his soul. "Mega Man!" he finished. A cloud of blue appeared from his skin and swirled around him and in a flash of light he was wearing his armour with that brave look on his face.

"No you can't go!" Adam said abruptly, stepping in front of his foster son. "Please, let's call someone to come deal with this."

Mega Man shook his head. "It would take too long dad. I have to do this, for father, for you, and for Rush." He smiled confidently and gave a thumbs up with his gloved right hand. "Don't worry, even if fighting breaks out I'm well equipped to deal with it."

Adam knelt and hugged Mega Man. "Just be careful, okay son?"

"I will," he said, returning the gesture and walked into the cave opening. "See ya in a few dad!" he said with another thumbs up and smile before letting his expression change into one of determination again as he walked into the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Mega Man descended through dark tunnels as two small lights on his helmet turned on to provide him with some light and his eyes shifted into low-light mode. Now he could see in the dark almost as well as if he were outside, though there was a slight lack of colour. Then again there wasn't that much colour down here anyways. For a time there was nothing but a dirt tunnel, but he moved quickly, his armoured boots clanking against rocks.

At last he reached the point where the tunnel became a metal hallway into which he stepped with hesitation. Somewhere ahead is the thief, he thought, I hope Rush is okay. He walked steadily down the hall and turned the first corner to see a scene of devastation. The doors had been torn off or blasted away and great holes in the wall opened to other tunnels or storage rooms. Inspecting a room showed Mega Man that each had been torn apart and robotic parts littering the floor. He broke into a run, dashing down the hall and at last reaching the big room where Dr. Light had kept all his greatest creations.

When he reached it he saw the doors blasted apart and several of the robots had already been removed. In fact almost all of them were gone now and there apparently finishing the job was a figure barely taller than Mega Man himself and dressed in a dark hooded cloak and cowl. As Mega Man approached he saw the figure grab the robot he knew to be Cut Man and place it in a light projected onto the ground by a soccer ball-size sphere of plastic-metal. As Mega Man watched the robot shrank and vanished into the sphere. "Ah, the Blue Bomber himself in the synthetic flesh," the figure mused, the voice clearly masculine even if it was slightly hollow sounding.

"Why did you do this?" Mega Man asked, referring to the devestation and theft.

"Why? Because I did not want to waste time on trying to open the doors myself."

"Why are you stealing my brothers?"

"These robots are your brothers are they? How amusing. I am removing them from here to restore them to usefulness."

"What do you mean usefulness? Please, stop this," Mega Man said politely. "My foster-dad can restore them and there'll be no need for violence."

"As diplomatic as the stories say aren't you? Perhaps your 'foster dad' can restore them. But he would attempt to put them to use in pathetic construction projects, or worse have them be with you as family."

"But they _are _my family," Mega Man protested. "Please stop, put them back," he begged.

"Be quiet! You're wasting my time android," the figure spat. "Now be gone before I have to force you to be gone."

"No. You _will _stop now!" Mega Man commanded with as much authority in his voice as he could muster. He hadn't activated his weapon yet though, he knew that actions taken under threat were not sincere.

"Attempting to order me are you?" the cloaked figure said, placing Guts Man into the light at which point it vanished into the sphere as well. He turned and Mega Man gasped as a bolt of black energy struck him in the chest and hurled him back against the wall. "I've grown tired of your prattling! By the way, look what I found," the figure said, holding up a battered robotic dog by the tail.

"Rush!" Mega Man cried. "Fine, but you brought this on yourself." It didn't even take a thought and his arm morphed from his elbow down into a short, rounded cannon almost football-shaped. It was dark blue, like his helmet and gauntlets. He immediately fired a blast of plasma at the figure. It struck the figure in the chest and he slid back, dropping Rush. Mega Man silently cheered and ran forwards as fast as his short, but powerful legs could move him. He grabbed his robotic dog around the stomach and turned to the figure. "There is no need to continue this fighting."

The Cloaked Figure once again fired a bolt of dark energy, but Mega Man was ready this time and jumped away onto one of the platforms where the robots had been. He kept Rush under his arm, the robotic dog wasn't heavy. Mega Man fired again at the figure, but he merely raised some kind of black force field that absorbed the shot and as Mega Man went to dodge he found himself jumping into another shot. Once again he was hurled against a wall where he slid to the ground. He stood quickly, but he could feel bruises all over and a dull pain in his shoulders and back. Luckily his armour protected him from the bulk of the blast though. "I've had enough of this," the Cloaked Figure said. "I am finished with you for now. Be glad I went easy on you." The figure grabbed the sphere and pressed something on his wrist at which point he vanished in a flash of blue light.

"Teleported," Mega Man hissed as he grabbed Rush and trudged back through the vault. He had to admit he was happy he had his dog back, but sad and infuriated that whoever this guy was Mega Man had been easily beaten and lost his cousins again. It was annoying, and of course the mystery was thick. Who was this guy anyways? Why did he want the robots? The last question was pretty obviously answered, but he didn't like the thought. "Always as weapons," he said to himself. "Ah well, let's get you repaired Rush," he said to the dog. He rubbed his sore shoulders and back and with a giggle added "Maybe a little to me too."

When he reached the surface he was almost immediately embraced in a hug from his step-dad. Mega Man smiled warmly and held up Rush to him. "Rush is my pet dog," Mega Man said rather matter of factly.

"Yes I can see that. Don't worry we'll get him fixed and running again in no time. He can't be as complicated as you."

"I was complicated to repair?" Mega Man asked.

"Compared to a lot of robots around, yes. You're actually a little more advanced than some of the best existing androids now! Dr. Light truly was an amazing man. You see most androids around now have issues with the eyes making them glow or appear are literally perfect in their human-like quality."

Mega Man felt a blush creep into his cheeks. He's never been complimented so much in his life. "You're a pretty good roboticist if you were able to fix me though. Dad said before I shut down 'one day someone will come along who is even better than me'. Maybe that someone is you," Mega Man said with a cute, friendly little smile.

Adam chuckled. "Maybe I am, but I wouldn't claim to be. Now I want you to tell me what happened down there."

The two got Rush into the car as Mega Man explained the events in the vault and the situation in general within. At the same time Mega Man mode changed back to Rock with his armour briefly forming into a blue cloud before sinking back into his body. "I'll report this to the authorities then," he said at last. "And while we're on the topic of official business I'll need to see about getting you into a school."

"What? Me in school?"

"I can't have you some sort of secret child. Besides it's good for your social life," Adam said with a smile. Rock had to agree his step-dad had a point there. He needed other kids around and besides it put him in the public where he could hear about news and events. "And it's not a problem that you're an android because although there's no laws against androids in school, there'd be no point in putting them in school cause they can just have information downloaded to them."

"Speaking of other androids, scans detect electronic replacement to your right hand. Did you loose it?"

"No, no I didn't. Check your files, it was part of the download last night."

Rock checked curiously and when he found it he was surprised to say the least. "Why should humans stop being humans?" he asked bluntly. "How does that make robots feel better? Differences are good."

"Well apparently someone didn't think that way."

"Well just a hand isn't so bad," Rock reasoned. "By the terms of the agreement even a little chip suffices. Anyways it's not something that worries me. We have to somehow figure out who that cloaked guy was."

"I have to get you registered as my adopted son and you have to go to school as soon as it starts."

"Awwww," Rock said pouting. "No fair."

Rock participated heavily in repairing his pet and sidekick. He utilized his tool learning skills to a degree that surprised his foster dad. All it took was one look at a tool in use and instantly Rock knew exactly how to use it. "So this is where your legendary weapon copying abilities come from," Adam mused.

"Yup," Rock affirmed, finishing up repairs on Rush's electronic nervous system. His step-dad was working beside him, working on the synthetic flesh face that Rush had. "Rush does a lot of things. He can change shape into a submarine, a hoverboard and a motorcycle. He also had adapters that let him fuse with my armour and give me three other modes. I don't see them here though." Rock's eyes went wide with realization. "I bet that guy took them!"

"We'll get them back," Adam said. "Now I think I can take it from here. I know you're a lab assistant, but I want you to go play and have fun. I got you video games, a basketball, lots of stuff for you to do."

Rock smiled happily. "I don't mind working in here, but okay. I met someone at the park who lives around here. See ya in a bit dad!" and with that Rock dashed out of the room and easily found the basketball in the garage and ran out front after quickly changing into athletic shorts. Consulting his memory files he found the address his new friend had given him and dribbled the ball as he walked down the street, looking for the house.

It was weird how similar things looked to when had shut down to begin with. There were obvious differences like the cars on the street, the lack of a chimney on any of the houses, all of which had some sort of decoration he wouldn't have found three hundred years ago. He wasn't sure what many of them were supposed to be, but he found himself flattered to find that one person had a statue of himself and Proto Man on their front lawn. With a pang of sadness he wished his older brother was still around, but he had no idea where the older android was. He had only known that he had last been heard from somewhere in the desert. "I'll find you Blues," Rock said to the wind using his brother's real name. "I'll find you and we'll fix you and we'll be a family again."

He continued walking and dribbling and found the house he was looking for right next to the house with the two statues. There was a basketball hoop above the garage that he easily made a slam-dunk in with his enhanced android legs. He retrieved the ball and jogged up to the front door and rang the doorbell. A woman about the same age as Dr. Lumin appeared at the door and opened it. Her face lit up after a moment once her memory kicked in. "Oh hello Daniel, how are you?" she asked, using the human alias that Rock had mentioned to Adam the day before and was using in public. He didn't think it was a good idea to reveal his true identity to a world where he'd been assumed destroyed for centuries. The appearance of the cloaked psychopath only further solidified this decision.

"Hi Mrs. Nillan, can Jalon come out?" Rock asked politely.

"Oh of course he can. I'll get him."

Rock waited a moment and grinned when his friend appeared at the door. Jalon had blond hair, brown eyes and a tanned complexion. Though not quite as obviously athletic as Rock, Jalon still was clearly an active boy and when both kids got going it had been hard to slow them down. Jalon was wearing denim shorts and a t-shirt for some band that Rock didn't know of. "Hey Dan! We gonna shoot some hoops?"

"Yup, let's head to the park. I know you have one, but at least we've gone somewhere by going to the park." Rock gave one of his winning smiles and the two took off.

After talking about some random stuff, like what bees would say or what trees would think when people sit against them Rock finally asked a question that had been kind of bugging him. "Do you know who lives in the house with the statues of those old superheroes?"

"What the house with the statues of Mega Man and Proto Man out front? Of course I know him! That's the house where Professor Steele lives. He's really smart and knows more about Mega Man than anyone in the world!"

"He does?" Rock asked, feeling a rather unique slyness grow in him. After all who knew more about Mega Man than himself.

"Yeah, I think he's worked with your dad before; except Professor Steele focuses more on researching Mega Man X. Who's cool, but I think Mega Man was cooler."

Rock once again felt extremely flattered and could barely keep a blush from coming to his face. He had no idea he was so well known across the world and considered such a hero. Though for some reason he also felt strangely jealous of this Mega Man X. He remembered his dad talking about it before shut down and as much as he felt the twinge of jealousy he also felt proud that his father's final project had bore fruit and wished he could've met his 'younger brother'.

"Why do you like Mega Man better?" Rock asked, tossing the basketball to his friend as they walked into the park.

"Well cause he's like us sort of. He was like a normal kid and decided he should be the one to fight that bad guy. That's so cool that he could just get the courage to decide that. Plus he's an android so he was like us, but could lift cars and stuff," Jalon explained, passing the ball back.

Rock grinned. "Yeah that is kinda cool," he said feeling very happy at the compliments that Jalon had unknowingly been showering on him. "And he only fought cause he knew he had to, he didn't want to."

"Yeah that too. Imagine getting a chance to play basketball with Rock? That was his real name you know. Bet he'd play really fair too, like not using his android skills."

"Yeah that's probably how he'd play," Rock said with barely contained laughter at the irony."Hey look Justin's here too," Rock added quickly and pointing out a boy with short dark hair and chucking a football into the air and catching it. "Hey Justin!" he cried, running towards his other friend. The three boys were soon involved in basketball and football games they invented. Rock made things fair by putting a dampener on his physical abilities making him no stronger than he looked which he did for the benefit of his friends.

After who knows how long the small group stopped and rested on the grass, all lying down with their shoes off. "I love summer," Rock said.

"You said it Dan," Justin agreed.

"Yeah, but I do kinda like winter," Jalon said. "Mostly Christmas."

"I vote to throw snowballs at Jalon this winter!" Justin cried. Rock joined in too and the two tackled Jalon and playfully wrestled each other. They were interrupted by the sound of police sirens and all three boys ran towards the far edge of the park to see police cars heading towards the urban areas. From where the park sat on a rise they could see what was causing the problem; a giant metal skull bleached white, a white and black robot that itself had simple rods and spheres for limbs and joints, and around it swirled a cloud of black robotic bats.

"What the-?" Jalon murmured.

"You guys get home, I'm gonna go get someone who can help," Rock said. He didn't even wait for a reply before dashing down the hill, not noticing his friends sharing bemused expressions before simply staying put. Rock just ran down the road and found a nice alley that seemed secluded enough. "Alright. Initialize mode change: Mega Man!" he said. Once again that blue cloud appeared from his body and once again in a flash of light the cloud had become his blue armour.

Turning off the dampener he jumped up to the top of one of the buildings surrounding the alley and made another couple jumps until he was standing atop one of the ones looking down on the battle scene. The robots were swarming and swooping to attack the police, civilians, police robots and anything they could find. There didn't even seem to be anything methodical to the attack. He was watching random chaos and the senseless butchering of innocent people. Anger rose inside him, righteous anger at this horribly evil display. He jumped and landed on the road facing the swarm and with the police behind him. "Enough!" he shouted. He wanted their attention, but he wasn't going to try reasoning. They'd already made the first move, and it was a lethal one.

"Oh my gosh!" Mega Man heard one of the officers behind him say. "Are you? Could it be?"

"Yes I'm Mega Man!" he said loudly. The swarm of robotic bats circled and swooped towards him. He stood his ground, his arm morphing into his Mega Buster and waited. Just as he could see the tips of the pointy 'ears' on the bats he dropped to the ground and slid under the swarm. The bats crashed into the ground and Mega Man whirled around and fired several plasma shots from his cannon. They struck the bats which all exploded as their internal systems melted, though the explosions weren't much larger than the robots themselves.

Mega Man turned to look up at the sinister floating skull. From this close he noticed something he hadn't noticed before; on the forehead of the metal skull was a sort of angular backwards '3'. "Why sigma?" Mega Man wondered aloud, recognizing the symbol. He aimed his cannon at the floating skull and waited. "I'll give you one chance!" he called up. "Leave here now!"

"I follow only the orders of the masters," the skeletal robot hissed back loudly. It fired off several shots of plasma of its own and Mega Man rolled to avoid the shots which ploughed into the ground and briefly caused the asphault to melt and bubble. Mega Man jumped against the wall of a building and sprang off diagonally upwards to he passed by the skull and robot. His scans had already judged the eye sockets to be the most likely weakness so Mega Man fired two plasma shots into each. To his surprise the skull cracked and exploded and with a final couple shots he dispatched the skeletal robot that began to fall. He landed on a building and watched as chunks of metal rained down on the road and stared at them thoughtfully.

It took him a moment to become aware that the police were thanking him and applauding. He hopped down from the building and approached the police. "That was made intentionally easy," he said. "I think someone was testing me and I'm sure whoever it is, isn't done yet."

"There'll be more you mean," one of the officers said.

"That's right, but I'll come if you need me," he said with one of his cute, but slightly cheeky looking grins. The officers handed him a simple bleeper in the form of a small circle of metal with a small LED light on one side and a screen on the back that would name the type of trouble. Mega Man put it inside his gauntlet and grabbed a police car that had been knocked away during the fight. He easily lifted it and placed it back on its wheels before jumping up the buildings and turning back into Rock once he found a nice secluded place.

As he walked back towards home he passed the park again and yelled and surprise when his friends jumped out from behind trees to startle him. All three laughed, but Rock quickly grew serious. "Did you two never leave?"

"Nope. You know what we saw? Mega Man! Honestly, no joking it was him and he came and shot down those evil robots and left," Jalon explained gleefully.

"It was sooooo cool," Justin added. "He was like pew-pew, and the robots all exploded!"

"You two could've been hurt though," Rock said.

"Nah they were too far away to see us," Justin countered.

"We gotta tell everyone in school about this," Jalon said with as much glee as before. The other boys agreed, Rock mostly to just play along. Though when he got home the reminder of school made him pout even more so when his foster dad said he'd finished it all and Rock would be starting school the next week, Tuesday in fact which was only a couple days away. Once again Rock folded his arms and made a face somewhere between a pout and a frown, saying "No fair."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The day of the attack had been a Friday and almost overnight the 'Return of Mega Man' had become the biggest news in the last decade at least. Of course it had been front page news, and then Rock checked the internet and saw theories flying everywhere. Could it possibly be the real Mega Man? Was it a new copy? Was perhaps Zero involved somehow? Who Zero was Rock hadn't a single clue, but he seemed tied to Mega Man X. His own mind was buzzing all weekend about the response to his actions. He'd never imagined people loved him this much and it was like being a celebrity and the irony was he was famous without anybody knowing who he was.

Tuesday morning came soon enough though and his foster dad gently shook him awake. "Rock, come on first day of school."

"I don't wanna," Rock groaned sleepily, pulling the pillow over his face.

Adam chuckled at this behaviour. Rock really did have incredible emotional ranges. He'd fight evil robots in dark caves, but roll over whining and moaning at the prospect of school. "Come on Rock your friends will be there. You know your school work will be easy for you so you shouldn't have a problem."

"Fine," Rock moaned sitting up. "Hey dad you mentioned upgrades before we went to the excavation site. What other upgrades did you give me?"

"Oh, yes, slipped my mind. Well I enhanced your intellect a little, upgraded your joints and so on with more modern materials and your blaster as well. Pretty much I just made you stronger and more up to date. I really didn't have to do much though; Dr. Light did an amazing job. But I remembered something Dr. Cain, the discoverer of Mega Man X had written in his paper about Mega Man X saying that the android was completely free of programming limitations and made its own choices with human-like reasoning abilities. I checked your programming and found there was indeed a limitation to prevent you from going crazy..."

"And you removed it," Rock finished.

"Yes, your programming's been updated to match that of Dr. Light's last creation. I believe you told me that your father would have done that already had events played out different."

"Yeah he did," Rock confirmed, sadness slipping into his voice for a moment. "Privacy dad," he added as he got out of bed. Adam took his leave and Rock quickly changed into daytime clothes and placed the police bleeper into his jeans pocket. He hoped he wouldn't need it, but he had to be prepared. He grabbed the brand new backpack he had and after breakfast he was in the car being driven to school.

It didn't take him long to find his friends and it turned out they were sharing the same class which Rock was naturally thrilled about. The classroom looked similar to the ones he remembered in that it was large and had a number of desks, but there were massive differences in that instead of a blackboard was a large computer screen and the bulk of the desk surfaces were computer screens with a digitized keyboard and small printer facing him where he would print out homework and such. The teacher also made it clear that they would do some work on paper as well. With all the technology Rock could experiment with he was feeling all giddy and excited. It was times like these where he loved being an android, and could sort of see why people might want to add robotic parts to themselves.

Justin and Jalon were nearby, but next to Rock was a girl who was chatting to her friend behind her. "Daddy thinks the attack came from Dr. Wile," the girl beside him whispered somewhat fearfully.

"My dad says he thinks Sigma came back," her friend responded with the same fear in her voice.

"Attention class," the teacher said. She was a kindly looking woman in her early thirties and was thin, but in a good way that made her seem nice. It wasn't the vulture-like thinness of a severe teacher. The classroom quieted down as all heads turned towards her. Rock was still feeling the awkward irony of being in the middle of things, but at the same time being unknown to most people. "I know there's a lot of talk and suspicion about the robot attack yesterday and I know many of you are quite frightened. I assure you dears that there is nothing to worry about. You are well protected."

"Is it true what they say about Mega Man?" the girl beside Rock shouted.

The teacher hesitated for a moment before saying "Nobody is really sure."

"I think it is,' Rock piped in. "Maybe he managed to survive in hibernation for three hundred years." The class all turned to face him and he felt his face redden and immediately wished he hadn't spoken. "It's just a theory," he added quickly.

"Attendance," the teacher called, sitting at her desk and turning on the computer on it. Rock could tell it was meant as something of a save for him having blurted out the truth which everyone thought an extremely crazy theory. "Allison Clearwater?"

"Here," the girl next to Rock answered. He looked around the class as names were called. Allison's friend was Caitlyn. The former was brown haired and blue eyed while the latter had green eyes. Rock looked around as other names were called. There were a pair of twins named Lan and Hub Hikari with rather messy brown hair that seemed kind of spikey and brown eyes and if not for the humans in the room it was only their headbands that told them apart, Lan had a blue one and Hub a green one. Rock though scanned them both and within seconds had easily memorized which was which. Then there was a fat boy who had his hair spiked a bit at the front with gel named Dexter. Also mentioned was a girl with dark red hair that seemed almost purple named Mayl, a short girl with blonde hair in a ponytail named Yai and a confident looking boy with platinum blond hair with brown around the edges named Chaud. Finally mentioned was a shy looking boy with a mop of brown hair and dark blue eyes named Tory Froid. Naturally these weren't all the kids in the class, but they were the ones Rock found most interesting.

Naturally the school knew him as Danny Lumin and by extension all the kids knew him as this as well. He may have revealed to the world that Mega Man had returned, but he still wasn't going to reveal which boy was Rock and thus Mega Man. As predicted school was so easy for him it was boring, even with the existence of events that he'd been shut down during. It was made even more boring by being the first day and so everything was even easier. He helped Allison and Caitlyn if they were picked to answer something, though honestly they didn't need it yet.

Lunch couldn't come soon enough, but it was what Rock had been waiting for. In the cafeteria he found his friends and the three of them found an empty table. Soon afterwards Lan and Hub sat there too. "Hey Lan, hey Hub," Rock greeted cheerfully.

"Daniel right?" Lan asked. "And Jalon and Justin nice to meet you guys."

"Hey guys," Justin and Jalon added. "So what's up?"

"Oh well, we couldn't find anywhere else to sit," Hub said shyly. "Please don't be mean to us like Dexter or that Chaud guy."

"We won't be," Rock said with a sandwich in his hand and smile on his face.

"We liked your theory about Mega Man," Lan said in quieter tone of voice. Justin and Jalon nodded in agreement.

Rock blushed "R-really? I thought everyone thought I was crazy."

"We've always loved stories about Mega Man!" Hub said. "He's the coolest cause he was a kid like us and went around fighting bad guys."

"That's what I said," Jalon piped in excitedly. "Which of the Robot Masters do you two think would've been coolest if they had all been good?"

"I always say Ice Man cause then he could make it snow days a lot," Lan answered with a sly but goofy look on his face. To this Hub punched him in the shoulder lightly.

"No Wave Man cause he could make waves for surfing or make those mega cool water spouts and it'd be like a sprinkler when it's hot out," Hub said with a bunch of gestures and 'whooshing' noises to make his point.

"I'd like Skull Man cause he could be really scary on halloween," Jalon answered.

Rock listened to this conversation quietly, but with interest. He'd often wondered what kind of civilian uses his old enemies could've had. Except for the original ones of course, he knew what they had been for. Listening to the dialogue also put him on memory lane as he remembered his fights with Ice Man, Wave Man and Skull Man. Ice Man was his cousin actually and they'd eventually been able to restore him to good, but Rock remembered that Ice Man had been stolen by that cloaked guy. The very memory made him angry and he almost burst right in front of the entire school, but he regained his cool and looked around to see nobody, not even his friends had noticed him briefly get very red-faced.

"I think Skull Man would be a little too scary," Rock said at last. He remembered the fight and he still thought Skull Man was one of his scariest opponents. From the creepy visage to the strange otherwordly energy that served as his circular shield and also powered his weapon.

"Aw don't be such a wuss Dan," Justin said cheekily. "Maybe we should throw snowballs at you too."

"Throw them at Hub so he stops bugging me about homework every night," Lan chimed in.

"You wouldn't have passed second grade if I didn't," Hub said back.

"So who do you think caused the attack last Friday?" Rock asked casually, but with the ulterior motive of learning what he could about who his enemy could possibly be.

"Sigma," Lan said almost instantly. "The skull, dad said the symbol on its forehead was a sigma symbol."

"How did he survive the Mother Elf then Lan?" Hub and Jalon asked challengingly.

"I dunno he escaped somehow. Everyone says that he got killed like, a bunch of times and still survived."

"Who's Sigma exactly?" Rock asked. He received a bunch of incredulous stares like he had two heads.

"He was like the baddest guy in history!" Lan said.

"Yeah he was one of those um, you know the bad guy androids," Jalon added.

"Mavericks," Hub said. "He was a Maverick Hunter who got a virus in him and started attacking the world as a Maverick. But as Lan forgets consistently, Sigma and his virus were destroyed by the Mother Elf, a special program."

Rock turned this information over in his head. So he could be up against someone considered to be one of the worst criminals of all time. Though honestly he thought Dr. Wily was pretty bad, but maybe he was wrong. "Well perhaps this Sigma guy copied himself before that happened and somehow hibernated out of sight and mind," Rock suggested.

"Yeah exactly Hub," Lan said triumphantly. "He copied himself."

"I think it was Dr. Weil," Jalon said. "Maybe he teleported out before that space station exploded."

"Nah you're crazy. Weil was already done for by Zero. It's definitely Sigma," Lan said.

"Zero?" Rock asked.

"X's partner," Hub explained quickly. "And he was killed in the space station explosion."

Once more having lots to consider Rock went silent.

"You know about old Robot Masters?" Rock asked, trying to change the conversation a bit now that he had some ideas. "I thought Proto Man was the coolest," he said, hoping he'd kept the sentiment, sadness and loss from his voice because he began to choke up thinking about his lost brother and sister. He got no strange looks, but he ran to the washroom, or made that excuse, and looked for somewhere private he could be.

"At least Rush's repairs are almost done," he said after several minutes of just taking deep breaths. He stood outside one of the doors, just breathing in the late summer air. It was still warm being only early September. "Roll, Blues, where are you two?" Rock wondered aloud. For a while he sat in silence, and jumped when he heard the door open behind him. He turned to see Hub walking out onto the cement landing and of course Lan was inside waiting, the two seemed to be attached by some kind of invisible tether.

"What're you doing out here Dan?" Hub asked.

"Oh I just needed some fresh air, had a sore stomach."

Hub nodded slowly, but there was a weird investigative look in his eyes that Rock wasn't sure he liked. It was the look of someone who knew there was more going on then they were being told. For a moment Rock considered telling Hub the truth, but the urge faded when he realized that would be a major secret and he didn't want to get too close to anyone. No that was too much risk and too much heartache. He had his foster dad, he had Rush, and that was enough and eventually he'd find Roll and Blues so even when Adam died he'd still have family.

The bell rang for recess and Rock felt the police bleeper buzz in his pocket. In the commotion of kids coming outside he was able to slip away to the front of the school and dash onto the sidewalk. He ran a ways from the school before checking the bleeper. "Another bat swarm?" he murmured. "They shouldn't need me for that, but maybe there's something else going on." He said the command and quickly changed into Mega Man. He only barely set foot outside his hiding spot when he saw a bright red blur streaking through the sky towards him. He prepared to run, but as the blur came closer he saw who it was. "Rush!" he cried ecstatically as the robot dog shifted out of his rocket form and into a dog shape.

"I came to help you Mega Man," Rush said, bowing his head briefly.

"Glad to see you back on your feet! Mode change Rush; airboard!"

Rush glowed a little as he changed shape into a skateboard looking object, except without wheels and instead with twin rockets underneath. Mega Man hopped on and tapped his front foot, signalling he wanted to head up. Rush complied and the pair lifted into the air. Together they flew through the air, Mega Man having become a rather skilled air boarder. Tilting forwards moved the user forwards and the more you leaned the faster you went while tilting to one side or the other turned and leaning back breaked.

He'd forgotten the sensation of flying; the air rushing into his face as they soared over the building tops, the impressive view all around, and most of all, his best friend under his feet enjoying it with him. "I forgot about this," Mega Man cried happily, closing his eyes briefly and letting the wind blow against his face. "I'm glad you're back," he said to Rush.

"Good to be back Mega Man sir," Rush said with as much cheer and excitement. "Don't forget we have a mission though."

"And there it is," Mega Man added seeing the black mechaniloids swarming around a factory. It was a much nicer factory than three centuries ago though, looking silver and polished with white steam coming from the stacks instead of black smoke. "I think it's a place where Reploids are made." So in that regard it really wasn't much of a factory as it was a laboratory or a 'hospital', but many thought of it as a factory for lack of a better term.

"The police report only mentioned the bats and came in from a caller outside," Rush added.

"So it might be worse inside. Alright Rush we need to either dodge the bats or get rid of them."

"There's the police," Rush pointed out. Mega Man looked down to the road across from the factory and seperated from the facility by a broken bridge and river. Mega Man and Rush circled around before landing in the midst of the SWAT team, consisting of at least fifty SWAT Joes, based on Dr. Light's Sniper Joe model. Indeed there were more robots than humans with only about five of the latter for strategy and command purposes. The human leader approached as Mega Man jumped off the board that was Rush.

"Mega Man you got here just in time. I'm Seargent Kalhin."

"Nice to meet you Seargeant," Mega Man said with one of his trademark smiles. "I'll jump right to my question; can you all take care of the bats?"

"I'm not sure, but I think the Joes can handle them. Why can't you do it?"

"Because I want to get inside as covertly as possible."

"And you want us to draw away the swarm so you can slip by," Kalhin said with understanding dawning on him.

"Yup, but I need to find somewhere I can get in through."

"There's some truck hatches on the back of the factory from where we're standing. They ship the mechaniloids out while the Reploids are given out like children are adopted."

"Truck hatches, those should be good enough. Come on Rush!" he cried. The grimness of the situations didn't get to him quite as much as long as he had Rush with him.

"Joes board your hoverdisks!" Kalhin ordered sharply. He turned to one of the other human officers. "And you, get us a copter, we have to make sure the enemy keeps attention fully on us. We could be dealing with anything from a hostage situation to a massacre." The other officer nodded sharply and quickly sent in the order. Meanwhile Mega Man surfed around on Rush, staying near the ground and watched the SWAT Joes each grab a metal disk from the police truck and hold them ready.

In only a couple minutes a flying machine appeared overhead that Mega Man thought looked more like a spaceship than a helicopter. The main body looked like a helicopter, or maybe a small airplane, but instead of propeller blades on the top they were inside two stubby wings on either side that ended in a circular end inside which were the propellers. If the situation were different Mega Man would have been extremely eager to check it out, but now was not the time for tinkering. A circular beam of light appeared from the bottom of the helicopter and as the officers saluted Mega Man couldn't but giggle. "Beam them up scotty!" he shouted garnering two laughs and one unamused face. With that the helicopter was off, surrounded by the SWAT Joes.

Mega Man and Rush waited until the group reached the swarm and saw it whirl around and fly at the squad. As he and Rush soared over the water he was surprised to see several bats already shot down by the SWAT Joes. "Go dad," he mumbled quietly, but with pride. The moment he'd crossed the water he veered off to the right and off the low cliff, staying low as they made their way around the island.

They came to a stop for a moment and Mega Man peered over the bank edge and across the yard to the factory. "Bingo," he said to Rush. There was a parking lot near which were loading hatches. Then he gazed up at the sky and saw the fight still raging, but the SWATs seemed to be winning. "Ready Rush?" he asked.

"Always Mega Man." The two came off the bank and Mega Man tilted forwards as far as he could go without making it dangerous. They zoomed across the grassy field of the island and despite the impending danger Mega Man loved every minute of the fast freedom. Soon they were over the pavement and Mega Man leaned back, decreasing the speed and eventually breaking in front of the doors. He leapt off of Rush who turned back into his standard dog mode. "So far so good," the robotic dog said.

"Yeah, so far. I'm not sure about inside though. Guess we'll find out," he said. He walked up to the hatches and squatted down to look for a good place to grab. He found the crack at the bottom where the hatch door met the ground and was able to ease it off the ground enough for him to get a good grip. Here was one of his favourite things about being an android; the strength. Plus his upgrade to Mega Man and his upgrade by Dr. Lumin doubled or maybe tripled what he'd already been able to lift. Rush in the past had often teasingly scolded him about showing off, and Mega Man knew it was true. He couldn't help it though; it was cool that someone as small as himself could lift so much.

"You're about to show off again aren't you," Rush said with exasperation.

"Naturally," Mega Man replied cheekily. Easily he lifted the large door up onto his shoulders and held it in place with one hand. Rush rolled his eyes as Mega Man easily shifted the weight from one hand to the other, but as soon as Rush was through Mega Man lowered the hatch back into place and the two turned to look into the dim interior of the factory. But there were no screams, no sounds of battle, no sound of robots anywhere. They were looking into darkness and hearing only silence.

_Author's Note: Just to cover my ass in regards to the Battle Network characters, in case you didn't figure it out already these are the classic world's counterparts. This isn't a crossover between the two Mega Man dimensions, I just thought it'd be neat to look at them a little if they existed in the original world. They're younger, Chaud and Yai are not rich, Hub never died and both twins live together as normal boys, and of course Net Navis were never invented so none of that applies._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Rush had his head lowered and was faintly growling as he and Mega Man moved through the loading room, both with low-light vision on and their small helmet flashlights on. The room was full of empty crates and machines that one of Mega Man's scans called gravo-lifts, cargo movement vehicles that created a small zero-point energy field which could move lincredible amounts of weight. Besides these though, there was nothing of note. They reached the far wall and came to another hatch door. On either side up a small flight of stairs was a door that led through into the factory, but both were locked. They decided against breaking the doors for the darkness and the silence made them edgy and unwilling to do anything that might make too much noise.  
Mega Man instead lifted the hatch door, making sure to slide it gently and quietly up on its rails until he and Rush could slip under. He lowered it back into place and turned around to look into the darkness. With such a large inside space the darkness felt all that much more all encompassing and consuming. The silence pressed in on them and both darkness and silence seemed to swallow Rush's growls and make them inaudible. What was worse though was neither of them felt like they were alone in the factory.

For a time Mega Man wandered through the darkness, carefully treading not wishing to meet whatever was lurking in the dark. They never met anything however as they wandered amongst assembly lines. He thought everything looked fine and was beginning to think perhaps they'd come before a major attack could be managed. Then he and Rush approached an assembly area and saw that it had been badly damaged. Some parts were sliced up while others seemed to have been completely destroyed. There were parts of robots everywhere. "Something is definitely in here with us," Mega Man whispered.

"I agree. I keep thinking I'm seeing shapes moving in the darkness," Rush added.

Mega Man stiffened at this news and felt his caution levels rise. "I think I know who's in here then. Come on, let's keep moving." He had a plan, but they had to get somewhere with less space and fewer hiding places. He figured one of the reploid labs would suffice, though he'd never seen one, he hoped it would be what he was looking for.

Finding the reploid labs proved rather more difficult than he'd hoped. For a time they seemed to be wandering in the darkness and silence of death. They saw more busted equipment and machines. Some were shredded to pieces and inspection revealed that there might be someone else in the factory as well. Yet still there were no corpses, no broken mechaniloids, no rogue androids, or none that they could see at least.

Eventually though they came to a set of thick metal doors. Here Mega Man saw that his suspicions might be correct as the door had a great big hole in it that had been made by something slicing it open. He scanned the edges and came to the conclusion that the cuts had been made by a serrated blade. "Metal Man," Mega Man whispered. He hadn't wanted to believe that other Robot Masters had been resurrected, but there seemed to be no other truth. The figure in the old lab had carried off the original Masters, and therefore it was highly likely that said figure had rebuilt many of the others.

"Metal Man? You sure Mega Man?" Rush asked skeptically.

"No I'm not, but I'm almost there. Anyways these are the reploid labs," he said, pointing to a sign overhead.

As they moved into the reploid labs Mega Man shifted his arm into his Mega Buster so as to be ready. The reploid labs were several doorways on either side of a rather wide and somewhat long hallway. The ceiling was fairly low and at the end of the hallway was stairs on either side that led up to higher levels. They climbed up to the second level which ended in a window looking out into the mechaniloid production area which seemed to take up most of the factory. For Mega Man though this was as good a spot as any to find out who was following them.

"Show yourself!" Mega Man called into the darkness. "I know you're out there Shadow Man! Now show yourself!"

Mega Man's voice rang in the darkness for a time and the duo was about to leave when a figure materialized out of the darkness and dropped from the ceiling. The figure whirled in midair and landed on its feet. It was an android, slightly taller than him with a head that swept back into a point, red eyes and navy blue round spherical shoulders. His hands were gauntleted similar to Mega Man's, and his boots were similar in style as well with the arm, knee and foot parts all navy blue as well. Unlike the obviously synthetic Mega Man, the figure's synthetic flesh didn't look quite as real as Mega Man's, but it was close. He had a close-fitting outfit similar to Mega Man with dark grey on his upper arms and legs, a black v-necked 'shirt' on his torso, though it was part of the armour and the pointed head was actually a helmet that was also black.

"Hello Mega Man I've been expecting you," the android said with a low, smooth voice that lacked emotion.

"Shadow Man, so I was right; a true ninja, lurking in the shadows, nearly invisible except for the occasional glimpse out of the corner of the eye."

"You are quite complimentary, but don't think flattery will help you. It's unfortunate that your mission is pointless as Metal Man has already left and taken all reploids and mechaniloids with him."

"Where'd he take them? What does he want with them?" Mega Man asked anxiously.

"Just because you've caught me does not mean I will give you information. However a ninja may answer one question to his captuerer. You have ten seconds."

Mega Man gritted his teeth at this in annoyance, but he only had ten seconds so he had to choose quickly. There were a million questions he had right now, but he'd only get the answer to one. "Who are you working for?" Mega Man asked with only three seconds left.

"Hail Lord Sigma," Shadow Man said. "Shadow Clan attack."

"Hey!" Mega Man shouted angrily only to receive a barely visible smirk before Shadow Man vanished into the darkness. He moved to run after him, but he found himself suddenly surrounded by black robots that had a humanoid shape, but lacked any synthetics so were only very crude androids. They were about five foot in height, same as their master Shadow Man, but they were hunched over in a sneaking position with their eyes faintly glowing red in the dark and each carrying a very deadly looking energy katana.

"Um Mega Man, I don't think negotiation will work this time," Rush pointed out.

"Wasn't planning on it," Mega Man said firing a plasma shot at several of the ninjas before jumping with as much effort as he could manage and just barely escaping the energy blades cutting all at once, save for one whose owner had lost its head from Mega Man's plasma shot. He landed outside the circle in a battle stance, but his mind was racing as to how to beat these robots. Most of his shots had been blocked by the blades that the ninjas held and were extremely swift and deadly with.

Rush landed at his side having also had to jump quickly. Mega Man fired off several more shots, but each was blocked by the blades of the ninjas so the android boy made for one of the laboratories. He quickly tried to blast away the lock, but found the door absorbed the heat and force of his shots. The ninjas were approaching quickly, the energy blades humming in the silence and glowing in the darkness. At length he became aware of Rush nudging him with his nose. Mega Man looked down and his eyes widened when he saw Rush carrying the hilt of the energy sword from the fallen Robo-Ninja.

He snatched it up and whirled around while activating it. Having already seen it in use he could use it himself now. He charged forwards and sliced through the metal torsoes of two more of the ninjas and jumped to land on the opposite side from them. "Not only can I use onw of these now," Mega Man started. "Now I can create one." He held out his right arm and his Mega Buster changed taking on a pronged hilt-like appearance and from the space between the prongs flared a sword of yellowish energy the same shade as his buster shots. "Mega Blade activated!" he cried and now with two swords he whirled around and dashed forwards parrying a couple strikes from the remaining five ninjas and slashed apart two at once, one with each sword.

Each ninja felled crackled and sparked with electricity before flashing briefly in a small explosion as each shut down. However Mega Man was too overconfident despite the fight going in his favour. He moved to turn around when he felt a sharp, searing pain lance through his shoulder. An energy blade had stabbed into his shoulder and although it hadn't actually pierced his armour the incredible heat from it had left an extremely bad and painful burn. Mega Man sliced the ninja to shreds and in a final flurry of strikes took down the remaining two.

He turned off the sword and changed his arm back into a normal arm. The pain was still strong and he felt his eyes water just from the strength of it. He'd forgotten what battle wounds felt like, but for a time he had to just stay kneeling until the pain subsided a little. Rush came and nudged against him, utilizing his more canine aspect. "You okay Mega Man sir?" he asked. "That was a pretty nasty strike."

Mega Man took a deep breath. "No I'm getting better," he said, which was true; the pain was starting to subside. Despite not being initially made as a warrior it was now as much a part of him as being a lab assistant was and he knew pain and knew how to work through it. He took a deep breath and remembered how to ignore the wounds and as he began to make his way out of the factory he found his old methods still worked. The pain of the burn became nothing more than an annoyance as he pressed on. "Don't worry Rush," he said as they neared a door. "I'll get dad to put some salve on it when we get home."

"I'm not really that worried, but okay," Rush said with a smile on his dog face. The two no longer felt like the darkness was dangerous. It was clear that those who had been inhabiting it were the ninjas and Shadow Man and the former were destroyed and the latter gone, so exiting the factory was far less spooky than entering it. It didn't take too long for them to return to the loading area and Mega Man even with his burned shoulder easily lifted the doors out of the way. He stepped out into the sunlight and barely had time for his eyes to adjust when he saw the police team arround him.

"The battle was successful on our end Mega Man, what was it like inside?" the officer asked. Mega Man described the events that had taken place inside and making a special note about who Shadow Man claimed to be his boss. "I hope he was lying," one of the other human police said to muttered agreements.

"Why?" Mega Man asked.

"You weren't awake during the Maverick Wars, but if somehow Sigma has returned to the world… God help us all," Seargent Kalhin said with dread. "He caused a war that was one of the bloodiest in human history, and of course reploids suffered just as much."

Mega Man folded his arms and sighed, the pain in his shoulder wasn't bothering him at all despite its remaining intensity. What to do, he thought. "I have a burn to treat, I'll find you if a plan comes to mind," he said distractedly. He hopped on Rush who had become a hoverboard again and soared upwards. He paused and turned around to say one last thing. "Oh and tell Scotty in the helicopter I said hi, okay Captain Kirk?" he called back with a cheeky smile before soaring off.

Rock sat at home watching TV while Dr. Lumin gently rubbed salve on the burn. This was a special healing balm, or to quote the commercial that happened to be playing at the same time 'Lyentol's Fast Acting Balm for burns, rashes and hives and specially made to work on organic and synthetic skin'. The cream was cool and soothing on the burn and he though he could feel it working already, but that may have been his imagination.

Since he'd gotten home late afternoon Dr. Lumin had informed him of his having 'covered' for him by saying he'd picked Rock up from school and forgotten to mention it. That was good to know since Rock didn't want to have to think of an explanation of his own. From there he ate and showered and now here he sat watching TV as the balm was applied. He had told his foster father about the fight and what Shadow Man had revealed and a similar look of dread had passed into his face. "Was Sigma really that bad?" Rock had asked upon seeing this expression on his faster dad's face.

"Let me just say you're lucky you were out cold during his reign of terror. Your friends only gave you a partial version of his history. My ancestor, Dr. Alex Lumin was there…" Adam had said, trailing off.

"He was?" Rock had asked.

"Yes he was there… the day when the world enter several centuries of hell. They called it the Day of Sigma."

Thus Rock finally heard the whole story. The discovery of his youngest brother Mega Man X and the creation of reploids as a joint effort between Dr. Cain and X. Rock learned about the creation of the guardian reploid Sigma and the discovery of the last creation of Rock's greatest enemy Dr. Wily; the android named Zero. Rock learned of the fight between Zero and Sigma that culminated in the conversion of the 'Zero Virus' into the 'Sigma Virus'. Then the stories of the wars, Sigma's butchery and cruelty as he laid waste to towns across the world while the Maverick Hunters under Zero and X defeated him time and again until the fateful day came when X, wielding the power of the living anti-virus program Mother Elf was able to at last exterminate Sigma.

Now as the story came to a close with the chapter of Zero and Dr. Weil Rock was quiet and thoughtful. "It all sounds so grand and epic…" Rock noted somewhat sadly. "Terrible yes, but it makes an incredible story."

"You have a point," Adam agreed. "Why do you sound so sad though?"

"It's just… after all I did back then it seems, compared to my successors, history thinks of me as nothing. I was remembered as nothing. My stories aren't told as epic tales, they're told as short adolescent stories. I'm famous as a storybook character come to life, but not as someone who saved the world or protected people from tyranny," Rock explained morosely.

"Ah," Adam said understandingly. He sat next to his adopted son and put a hand on his back while Rock gazed sadly at the floor. "You know you do what you do because it's right and not for praise or recognition, correct?"

"Yeah," Rock answered. "It's not that though. That nobody remembers me or thinks much of me, it makes me wonder if I was ever needed to begin with," he sighed, "Maybe I just threw away a life of peace and endangered my family for nothing."

"Rock, you know you took up Mega Man because-" Adam began, but was distracted by the current and rather frightening news story.

"Our breaking story remains the attacks on several cities across the Reunited States by robots resembling several historical maverick generals. These include Flame Mammoth, Chill Penguin, Storm Eagle and even Vile," the news reporter announced. "Several unconfirmed reports exist of a cloaked figure watching the attacks from a tall building, but these seem to be imaginative at best. The attacks from these generals included several squads of armoured robotic soldiers and ended almost as abruptly as they began. Stay tuned for further reports."

Rock and Adam exchanged worried looks and Rock's face shifted to the look of bravery and determination he often wore as Mega Man. An idea had developed in Rock's mind, and he figured it was the best start. "Dad, I need to know everything there is to know about Neo Arcadia's status now. Tomorrow I'm going to go find my little brother and see what he knows."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Neo Arcadia?" Adam asked with horror. "That place is deserted and dangerous. It's under government lockdown and nobody is allowed inside."

"Sounds like just my kind of place then," Rock replied with one of those smiles of his.

"You may not always be so lucky Rock," Adam said with a pleading tone. "No matter how skilled someone is there's always the chance that they're luck will run out."

Rock leaned forwards and gave his foster dad a huge hug. "Dad, I can do this. You're fine to worry, but I can handle this," he said reassuringly. "You said I'm like a reploid now right? That I can make my own decisions. Well this is my decision."

Adam sighed sadly. "Yes you're right. Your plan is probably the best one we have so far. Come into the lab Rock, I'll show you where Neo Arcadia is."

Rock followed Dr. Lumin into the lab where his foster dad brought up a holographic map of North America, one of the many gadgets in the room. Rock looked at it and raised a finger to tap a section of the hologram that was labelled 'RSA'. "It's the United States," Rock commented, seeing the shape of the country.

"Well it was, it fell apart during the Maverick Wars and of course the planet's population almost vanished during the Elf Wars. But thanks to some recovery time in Neo Arcadia and a fast growth program we've managed to restore much of the planet's population. First thing done after leaving Neo Arcadia was the re-establishment of the country that had once been all around us and so was born the Reunited States," Dr. Lumin explained.

"I see," Rock responded, scanning other sections of the North America map. "Doesn't seem like the rest of the continent has fared as well; The Canadian Wastes, Alaska's a rad zone and Mexico's called the Outlands."

"Yes there is still much work to be done, but Asia and Europe have fared well too. Why Russia has become the largest city in the world, Grand Metropolis!"

"I'll have to remember to visit that, but we need to focus on Neo Arcadia," Rock said bringing the map back to the RSA.

"Right well Neo Arcadia is right here," Dr. Lumin said tapping the map at the northern peninsula of New Washington state. "They say it's haunted by maddened cyber-elves who attack anyone who sets foot within."

"Crazy cyber-elves? Doctor don't cyber-elves need a reploid for physical interaction?"

"I didn't say they personally attack. They turn the internal systems on intruders."

"Okay so then I can deal with that when I get there. You wouldn't happen to have a teleporter would you?" Rock asked.

"No, I wouldn't. But I did find some of Dr. Light's schematics for one; I'm assuming it was the one you used to get into and out of missions."

"Yup, but then how am I going to get to Neo Arcadia? Rush can't fly _that_ far."

"You could go on an airplane, that'd get you to New Seattle then Rush could fly from there."

"An airplane? What about school? Will you come?"

"Rock, slow down," Dr. Lumin replied with a laugh. "First of all I can explain your absence from school as illness. Second I can't come with you, I have to work. You want this teleporter up don't you?"

Rock nodded. "Okay, I'll go buy a ticket."

"You'll want a New Metro to New Seattle flight!" Adam called after Rock as he vanished out the lab door.

The android was just about to enter his room when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!' he called and dashed to the door. He opened it to see Lan and Hub standing outside. "Oh hey you two, what're you doing here so late? How'd you know where I live anyways?"

"Jalon told us, turns out we live only a couple houses down from you Dan, or should I say, Mega Man," Hub said.

Rock's eyes widened with shock for a second before he chuckled heartily. "You're kidding right? I'm not Mega Man," he replied with good humour, but noticed Hub though smiling was not laughing. It was the smile of someone who had just solved a mystery, but Lan looked like he was going to explode with sheer joy. Rock sighed and pulled the twins into the house and shut the door before saying quietly "Okay yes my real name is Rock Light also known as Mega Man."

"Hah! That's so awesome," Hub said. "We know an android, and not just any android. You're like one of the first three androids ever!"

In spite of being slightly annoyed at having been discovered he couldn't help feeling flattered. "How did you figure it out?" Rock asked.

"I saw you run down the street and change into your armour, and I saw the robot dog of yours."

"He's the coolest part about you!" Lan burst out. "He turns into that sweet hoverboard which is like, completely awesome! Can I try it please Mega Man?"

"I'm not Mega Man right now, I'm Rock and you'll have to ask him yourself."

"Okay!" Lan almost shouted. "Can I see your arm cannon? I wanna see you fire at something," Lan added pretending to fire a cannon on his arm.

"Sorry, but it's only for battle." Rock turned to Hub as Lan went to find Rush. "You haven't told anyone else have you?"

Hub shook his head. "Just Lan although I'm thinking that may have been a mistake," Hub said.

"So you came here just to tell me you've figured me out?" Rock asked. He honestly wasn't sure what to think of this turn of events. Just cause they knew didn't mean he'd have to be close to them.

"Yeah mostly, but also you know, if you need travelling companions during a mission all of us will help you. You just hafta trust us," Hub said.

Rock nodded. "Yeah, okay. You have to go though, it's late."

Hub nodded and they turned and left. Rock shut the door on them and went back to order his plane ticket. He signed as having his guardian's permission and the ticket shot out a small slot beside the printer. He grabbed it and changed into his pyjamas before lying down on his bed, the ticket on his bedside table. "Who was at the door Rock?" Adam asked, coming into the room.

"Lan and Hub, the twins from school."

"What did they want?"

"Hub found out I'm Mega Man and he wanted to let me know. He won't tell anyone," Rock said, staring at the ceiling.

Adam's eyes widened a bit with shock, but he smiled in the end. "Found a friend then."

"Just cause he knows doesn't mean he's a close friend," Rock responded his tone harsher than he'd ever heard it and certainly more than Dr. Lumin had heard in his time knowing Rock.

"Why not?" Dr. Lumin asked.

"He's human, I don't want close human friends besides you. You humans will just age and die and I want to deal with as little of that as possible."

Dr. Lumin just sighed, Rock's comments were harsh, but he could tell the boy was hurting deeply and they didn't offend him. "Rock, do you want to talk about something?" he asked.

Rock shook his head. "No, I've made up my mind; human fathers, but no human friends. I'll find Roll, Blues and the Industry Robots. They're my family and friends." He folded his arms stubbornly and rolled over in his bed. Dr. Lumin sighed again and left the room, turning the lights off at the same time.

"Good luck Rock, and be careful," he said. Rock merely nodded in response and soon fell off to sleep.

_(Unknown Location)_

The clouds were dark and full of snow as they swirled around a dark looming fortress amongst a world of cold and ice and within it stood an android in the form of a man. His form was massive and tall, at least seven feet, with large synthetic muscles bristling all over his frame. He wore close-fitting black armour similar to Mega Man's, but also a breastplate dark green on the top hald and silver on the bottom with silver collar, blue forearm armour, white gloves with red lines at the finger joints and across the back leading to each finger. Around the top of his brown, metal boots and the end of his forearm armour he had silver rings studded with spikes and silver shoulder plates. A red mantle was draped under his shoulder plates around his body showing the silver plates were really just decorative.

His face was the face of a general, stern expression, square jaw with a slight cleft and calculating blue eyes, though they didn't possess pupils. A red jewel in his forehead and a long dark scar on each eye stood out from the almost perfectly human face as well as a pair of circular electronic ears instead of synthetic ones found in other androids. As he gazed out the window of the command tower he took a deep breath.

Walking up beside him was a large and very vicious looking robotic wolf largely pale royal purple and silver in colour, with a pointed gold collar. It treaded across the metal floor, its razor sharp claws tick-ticking against it. "Greetings master, Lord Sigma," the robotic wolf said lowering his head in a bow, his voice deep and growling, but clearly masculine in programming.

"Welcome back Velguarder, I smell war coming so I hope our armies are ready," Sigma said in a deep, menacing voice.

"Of course master. In fact they are beginning to get impatient."

Sigma smiled evilly "Well we won't keep them waiting much longer. The new war shall soon begin, and this world will become one of robots. And we know who its ultimate ruler will be," Sigma added with a knowing glance at Velguarder. "Are we certain Grand Metropolis won't interfere? Are our agents in place?"

"Naturally master it has been done. I am a most diligent worker my lord and I make sure all is done to your will. Grand Metropolis is bogged down in procedure and our agents have managed to create some riots and plagues, just those little disasters that keep a nation scared and selfish."

"Excellent job Velguarder, you will most definitely be rewarded. Go have the airforce be ready for the morrow! There is no better way to start a war than a blitz," Sigma said with a dark laugh. Velguarder bowed and left the room to carry out his master's orders while said master returned to watching the blizzard. He'd have to tell the weather control tower to block out the blizzard for something more flight friendly, but it could wait a couple more hours. It was a good blizzard.

Jalon, Justin, Hub and Lan all sat squished together in the cargo area of the airplane. Not that squished really, it was spacious enough for them to move about and stand, but the large amount of luggage made it seem cramped. "So let me get this straight," Jalon started, "We snuck out of home, probably worrying our parents sick and sitting for an hour in a cold luggage room, and then wandering around a city because you think our friend is a three hundred year old android hero."

"I don't think, I know! I saw him change!" Hub hissed.

"Right, and I'm Zero," Jalon replied frustratedly.

"You didn't have to agree to come," Hub pointed out.

"To make sure you're not doing anything crazy, and I'm curious about what Dan's up to."

Justin yawned and lay back against the wall. "You're not trusting enough Jalon. Hub wouldn't drag us out here if he didn't think there was good reason. I really hope Hub's right. Just think how cool it would be to know Mega Man!"

"Yeah that _would _be pretty cool," Jalon admitted. "But it could also be dangerous. Mega Man's a warrior and we'd be good hostage material if his enemies found out we're friends with him."

"Then we'll be careful," Hub said.

"We should get food first when we land," Lan piped in, having remained silent and almost asleep during the 'boring' conversation. "Are we gonna find Dan? He'll probably be mad we followed him."

"Not like he can do anything about it," Justin replied.

There was silence for a time, interspersed with talk about movies and such while Lan shuffled through luggage. "Hey look what I found!" he called. "It's Rush!" The other boys scrambled over to see the red-pink robot dog indeed sitting there, or rather laying there. He was sleeping, but the presence of the kids was beginning to wake him up.

"Leave him alone Lan," Hub said pulling his twin away. It was too late though, Rush's eyes opened and he quickly looked around at his fellow travelling companions.

"What're you kids doing here?" Rush asked.

"Well… we're following Rock," Hub said guiltily. Jalon and Justin were staring open mouthed at the robot dog while Hub spoke.

"It's Rush," Jalon whispered. "Th-that still doesn't prove Dan is Rock," he protested.

"You kidding? How much more proof do you need?" Justin asked.

"It just means Mega Man's on this plane; it doesn't mean Dan is him."

"I don't think there's many more ten year-old boys on this plane."

"You didn't see the passengers, so maybe there is," Jalon replied stubbornly.

Rush yawned and shook his head at the boys. "Fine, there's nothing that can be done now. I'll let Rock yell at you," he said. "Oh yes and he's going to Neo Arcadia," Rush added before dozing off again. It only took seconds for the name to sink in before each of them gulped at the realization that they had gotten themselves into something far more dangerous than they'd thought.

Rock was exiting the airport and had to wait for Rush to make his way to him. They both had tracking devices on each other and Rock could tell Rush was still a little tied up trying to sneak away. With that said he had to make his way towards somewhere concealed so he could change into his armour. He had to admit it was one of the best upgrades he'd ever gotten, summoning his armour like this. After a quick concealment amongst some trees he came out as Mega Man. Now he just had to wait for Rush. Except when the robot dog showed up he was carrying with him people Mega Man really didn't want to see there. All four of his friends, with Lan looking particularly thrilled to be riding on Rush.

When the group landed and they jumped off though Lan's face dropped immediately at the furious gaze Mega Man was giving them. "You followed me!" he yelled angrily.

"Woah Dan, you really are Mega Man," Jalon gasped. "And it was Hub's idea."

Hub gave Jalon an annoyed look, but turned back as Mega Man grabbed himby the shoulders and shook him gently, but firmly as he spoke. "I don't want you following me. Why do you think I didn't tell you who I was? I was trying to keep you safe and then you do something stupid like this! Remember what you said about trusting you? Does this make me want to trust you!" he yelled. The fury in Mega Man's blue eyes was like a stormy sea, but the anger in them wasn't hateful. On Mega Man's part he felt his heart sink when he saw them on top of Rush and he just couldn't stop the anger, the betrayal of trust and the dismay from spilling out. He had tried to hard to keep his friends away.

"Ouch," Hub said trying to pull out of Mega Man's grip. Mega Man loosened his grip realizing he'd been using more strength than he realized, though it didn't seem that much to him. However he kept his grip firm enough to keep Hub from breaking away. Rock's friend was looking away from him, perhaps in shame, perhaps guilt. "They wouldn't believe me," Hub started quietly.

"So you came all this way to prove a point?" Mega Man asked, letting go of Hub.

"We came because we wanted to help you," Lan jumped in, surprising everyone. "Jalon didn't believe us and wanted to see you for himself, but he agreed to help you if it was true."

Mega Man sighed frustratedly. He didn't really have a choice now. He'd either have to bring them with him into danger, or leave them alone in a strange city where they were liable to be kidnapped by strangers of some kind, or maybe in another attack. It was danger both ways, but they'd probably be safer with him. "Fine," he said shortly. "You can come with me. Guess it means rocket sled mode for you Rush."

Rush nodded and shifted form into a, well, flying sled powered by rockets and looking sort of like a mix between a bobsled and a raft. "Get in everyone," Rush said, in a far kinder voice than Mega Man was using. Mega Man sat at the front leaning over the wheel that told Rush which direction to move. "I know you're worried Mega Man, but don't forget the value of friendship," Rush said quietly so only the blue bomber could hear.

"They're humans though, they can't just be repaired like you and me," Mega Man moaned in the same quiet voice. "They don't even have any robotic parts like Dr. Lumin."

"Ah I see," Rush said. "We'll talk later, let's get going!" Rush started off into the air with the next stop being Neo Arcadia.


	7. Chapter 7

_Note: Oh I'm sure many of you readers played Mega Man Zero. Weren't the cyber elves adorable? Well wait unti you meet the dark cyber elves. They're every bit as cruel and nasty as the normal ones are cute and cuddly._

**Chapter 7**

The flight north was slightly shorter than expected, taking another hour and a half. Neo Arcadia was further from Seattle than expected, but well within Rush's flying distance. Talk was sparse amongst the group, particularly because they were all quite tired from getting up early. The four human boys were also afraid of angering their android friend again and were still a little shaken from his previous outburst. Hub in particular having felt some of his friend's true strength and was rubbing his sore shoulders.

As they flew further west towards the ruined city-state the weather became colder and rainier. This continued until they were flying through a chilly and steady drizzle with grey clouds overhead. "Sorry guys, wish I had something for dryness," Rush commented. "Don't usually have human passengers."

"We're fine," Hub said, even though he was soaked and clearly shivering a little. "Look! There it is." All five boys looked ahead to see a massive, white tower rising through the clouds. At the base of the tower were partial rings, buildings and other 'modern' looking structures of the same white metal all around the large plateau on which the main tower was built. The place was extremely huge and all five boys were in awe about the size and feeling dwarfed.

"How do we get in?" Jalon asked. Neo Arcadia was so massive and they so small. There were probably hundreds of entrances, but which one was the main one? That's what they were trying to find out. As they drew nearer they could also see the base of the tower-city bore considerable damage and was largely ruined.

"External damage suggests large amounts of far more severe internal destruction," Mega Man commented after a scan. "So no matter where we go in, the interior may be far more complex than it used to be, and more than we expect."

"There's a road!" Justin cried looking down. There was indeed a road, or rather a dirt path, marked out by a series of white pillars. Though it seemed there had once been more of a road there. The path led up to a large white gate at the base of the plateau, but compared even to just the cliff the large gate looked small, and comapared to the rest of the plateau it was dwarfed in comparison.

Mega Man brought Rush down right in front of the gate and as they stood in front of it they gazed up at the massive tower-city. From their new angle the top of the tower was lost in cloud; in fact they could barely see the top of the plateau where the tower started. They could see all the structures and buildings built into the rock though. From this angle the place seemed all the more massive. The fact the gate was dwarfed was astonishing as it could easily fit six cars through it at once, maybe twelve if the other six were flying.

As they approached the doors though it was quite obvious that they were sealed shut. "What are we here for anyways Mega Man?" Jalon asked.

"I want to find my littlest brother and see if he can tell me anything about the Sigma invasions," Mega Man said as he stood near the sealed doors and inspected them from top to bottom. He banged on them listening for some kind of weakness, but whatever had caused the damage to the city had left the gates intact. There was an electronic identification system, but it was turned off.

"Who's your little brother?" Lan asked.

"X," Mega Man answered. "These were well made. Even with my upgrades I'm not strong enough to open them. They must be sealed with several magnetic clamps and physical ones as well."

"Um, can't you just bust it down?" Lan asked.

"No metal's too strong and too thick for me. I'd need my super-arm or power mode, but Guts Man's gone and so is the power adapter." Mega Man wandered back and forth in front of the doors, scanning repeatedly. There was nothing he could find as a weakness. He fired off several plasma shots, but the heat merely spread across the metal and was rendered useless. He'd have to fire hundreds of shots to melt the door away, but he'd run out of power long before that happened. He tried his swords, but they glanced off the metal. "You'd need a tank to blast this down, or some kind of heavy weapon. My current ones aren't strong enough," he said in defeat.

"Come look at the ID system," Rush said. The boys ran across to look at the screen and microphone. On the round screen words had appeared reading:

_Entrance to Neo Arcadia may be granted to those who answer the riddles to be presented now. Are you ready?_

Mega Man looked at the writing with a perplexed face. Riddles to enter an old tower-city? It was very bizarre to say the least. "Um, I'm ready?" Mega Man said. He figured as a robot this would be easy for him.

_A woman has seven children, half of them are boys. How is this possible?_

Mega Man folded his arms confidently. "All her children are boys," he answered with the word 'correct' flashing across the screen. "This is going to be easy," he commented to his friends.

----

An hour and a half later Mega Man groaned frustratedly as his friends stood shivering in the rain and cold. The riddles were still coming and showed no sign of stopping.

_What is it that the rich lack, the poor have, and the dead eat?_

"Nothing," Mega Man said wearily. "This is ridiculous," he mumbled. "Two hundred riddles and it still won't open!" he cried and punched the door furiously.

_Four brothers standing under one hat. What is it?_

"A table."

_A great silver eye gazing in the dark. What am I?_

"The moon."

"Maybe it's not meant to open," Jalon suggested after several more riddles. Quite suddenly the screen flashed green and the doors to Neo Arcadia began to slide open.

"Welcome to Neo Arcadia," a cool female voice said as the boys stepped through the doors and into a rather dark tunnel.

"This use to be the 'temple' section where all the rich and upper classes lived in Neo Arcadia," Jalon said quietly as they moved deeper into the dim tower-city. "I think it was also on an island, but before Neo Arcadia was abandoned they had created a peninsula out of the island. The other parts of Neo Arcadia were simply destroyed with the temple planned to become the bulk of the city, but everyone just left into the world instead."

"Nice to know," Mega Man said with complete sincerity. It was information and he loved information. Besides it might come in handy at some point. "What were the other two parts?"

"One was the main residential and working area in a big cross called Heaven and it was made so things could be upside down or on the walls and still let people live normally. The other part was just ruins of the old city. Grandpa says Heaven was too complicated to maintain and rebuild, so the plan had been to utilize the temple, which obviously can hold millions."

"But the plan was abandoned when the world was deemed safe to inhabit," Mega Man finished.

"Yeah."

The boys came to a pair of exit ramps in the underground highway, both leading upwards and into a massive parking lot on both sides. They stepped onto the platform on their side and Mega Man pulled a handle on the ground. Walls of energy formed around the parking lot and the lot started moving upwards within the walls. As they moved upwards though Mega Man felt a strange sort of 'buzzing' in his sensors that he couldn't describe. It just felt… weird. "The humans may have left, but something else has taken over Neo Arcadia," he said quietly as the elevator came to a stop

The group stepped off the elevator and into a, well, a city. It was literally a city built inside a massive dome shaped space. The dome itself looked like a sky, currently it seemed to be set at dusk with the 'sky' dark, but with a slight reddish tint of sunset still remaining. Around them were buildings of metal looking rather artistically made in a 'futuristic' style rather than the old fashioned twenty-first century style Mega Man had gotten used to. Some of the buildings were still simple blocks or spires, but with a shiny, polished look. Actually that part struck Mega Man as odd because the tower had been abandoned for several decades and yet it seemed to be well taken care of.

"This is sooo cool," Lan said. "We gotta go explore! Come on!" he cried and before anyone could stop him he ran offdown an exit ramp and into the streets below. Hub followed quickly after him and the other three boys were forced to run down too just so they didn't lose the twins. No sooner had they all set foot off the ramps than several mischievous laughs echoed through the air.

"Welcome to our realm humans," giggled a cute high pitched, but mean sounding voice.

"Oh one of them's an android like our old friend," said another, similar type of voice. "Remember that one Detruis?"

"Yes I do Deses. Wasn't that one red though?" said the first voice, apparently named Detruis

"Yes he was. But this one is such a cutie isn't he?" Deses replied

"His friends are pretty adorable too! They're so cute I could hug them to death," Detruis said gleefully, but with a sinister edge to her words, for the voices seemed to be female.

Mega Man stood in front of his friends and looked around at the dark city. His eyes switched through various alternate light modes, but he could see nothing. Even full sensory scans got back nothing. Well, almost nothing, just before the scan finished he caught a little 'blip' within the electronics in the city. "Show yourselves!" he cried at last.

"What a brave one he is Deses! Just like the red one."

"Indeed. How about this android; we'll play a game!" Detruis said.

"I love games!" Deses cried. "This one's called 'Get to the Top'. The rules are simple, if you five cute little boys can get to the city at the top than we'll show ourselves."

"But if you can't then we'll dispose of your dead bodies in the trash disintegrator!" Detruis cried happily. "Good luck!" the two voices finished before fading away.

Mega Man frowned as he gazed around at the city. He was afraid to move for fear it might set off some kind of trap. "This is why you shouldn't have come," he said to his friends. "Do you realize the danger you're all in?"

"We just have to get to the top of the tower," Lan said confidently. "Come on! It'll be easy."

"No!" Mega Man cried anxiously amd dashed forwards and grabbed his friend roughly by the arm. Lan cried out in pain as he felt some of his friend's true strength, but stopped dead in his tracks. "Lan this place is dangerous. Whatever thosethings call a game is not by any means a game. We will have to move carefully," Mega Man said sternly. Lan nodded in response and fell back.

"Can't we just go back on the highway?" Justin asked. As if in response an energy wall appeard in front of him as he turned towards the ramp.

"It won't be that easy Justin. You four need to arm yourselves somehow," Mega Man said. "Until then stay close to me and don't wander off." There was such a sudden amount of authority in his voice that the four human boys fell into step behind him as they meandered through the streets. Unfortunately it was a big city and flying Rush seemed potentially dangerous until they knew what they were up against.

However after an hour of walking they had become completely and utterly lost. Even Rush proved to be of no help as when he tried to fly up to look around he was blocked by another energy barrier. "I'm starting to expect those," Justin quipped when Rush failed to fly higher than the first story of the buildings. "And I'm getting sick of this place. I tell ya, Metro's got nothin' on this place."

"At least we're not hiking across the entire Grand Metropolis," Jalon said wearily.

"This is only the first level," Hub pointed out. "There must be like, six more."

"Actually twelve, two of them not actually cities but wilderness simulation areas," Mega Man said abruptly.

"How'dja know that?" asked Justin.

Mega Man pointed to a large plasma screen displaying a cutaway map of the tower with each level labelled. He strolled over to it, but a map of the current city didn't seem to be available. "Because that would be too easy," he mumbled. Then he added in a louder voice; "Rush, rocket sled time."

The robot dog wasted no time in changing shape and the boys hopped in the open top, albeit warily. "Isn't this dangerous?" Jalon asked.

"We're going to move slowly, only a little faster than walking," Mega Man explained. "Somehow I think we've been given a beginner's break." Almost immediately the android was proven correct as the entire city began to shake with a massive earthquake. Great fissures opened in the ground, some of which began spouting gouts of molten metal into the sky, others just pits that ended on the criss-crossing highways far, far below. The ground reshaped with new hills forming and buildings changing shape into vast monuments that appeared to be made of volcanic rock. Suddenly the empty pits filled with lava and apparently sealed up underneath.

The shaking the changes had caused had sent vibrations into Rush that caused him to collapse to the ground and all five boys fell out and onto the ground. "Ugh, what just happened?" Lan asked nursing scratches on his knees and elbows.

"The entire city changed shape!" Jalon cried looking around. They now appeared to be in some kind of volcanic city with great pools of lava flowing all across the ground and the buildings changed into spires and cubes of volcanic rock. The air was extremely hot and glowing red from the lava. "But… how is that possible?"

"First of all is everyone alright?" Mega Man asked, his armour having kept him scratch free. He was on his feet fast and helping his friends up. Besides some scratches everyone seemed fine.

"We're all fine," Hub said at last.

"Yeah, besides being turned into roast humans by the minute," Justin added sarcastically.

In response to a worried face from Mega Man Hub added quickly; "Don't worry Mega Man, we're hot but we'll survive."

"But we're still lost," Justin said. "And now we have to jump over lava pits, and unfortunately we don't all have super legs."

Mega Man took off his helmet and ran a gauntleted hand through his messy, spiky brown hair; letting out a sigh of stress and thought. How was he going to get his friends through this alive? Plus he could only guess things would get harder from here on out. If his friends were going to survive they'd have to move fairly quickly, or else the humans would dehydrate by the time they got out of the maze-like city. It was a shame he always cleared his copied weapon data after each of his battles with Wily, because he could use the ice ones right now.

"This map here is part an electronic network," Jalon said, much to everyone's surprise. "I was looking at it and realized it didn't change with the rest of the city, so it must be part of the infrastructure in some way."

"Good observation Jalon," Mega Man commented, approaching the still working plasma map. A quick scan proved that Jalon was right. "Maybe if we find another outlet we can hack into the system."

From a nearby lava stream three blackish purple creatures appeared, each wreathed in flame with bodies like those of an undeveloped lizard's with a long lizard-like tail and four vestigial limbs that didn't even have digits at the end. The head was twin-pronged with the prongs curving inwards towards each other. From their backs came two glowing red spikes that seemed to be vestigial wings. In place of ears were two short electronic antennae that seemed to have a spike look as well. They all looked at the boys with their glowing red eyes and grinned wickedly. "You'll not hack our system android," they hissed in a cheerful, but sadistic tone. "Even if you live past us!"

---------------------------------------------------------

_Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay for this chapter. Shortly after starting it I had knee surgery for a ligament injury from karate, and the recovery period was a bitch. Hopefully I can be more frequent now with updates though._

_I'm also beginning to think this story arc might span three stories instead of two as was my original intent, it all depends on how many chapters Neo Arcadia ends up being._


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Little humans burn so very well," one of the firey little creatures cackled, appearing next to Jalon's shoulder. "But this one seems familiar. Are we sure he is a human?"

"Only one way to find out!" said another one cheerfully. "Burn first, ask questions later!" Each creature's flame aura grew as they charged up energy and bursts of flame shot from them aimed at Jalon, Justin and Mega Man. The young blue clad android bolted at the two boys and pushed them away, but took a firebolt to the back of his knee and his shoulder. Mega Man cried out as sharp, burning pain seared the two affected joints

"What are you creatures anyways?" he asked through the pain. The armour only blocked the bulk of the attack, but it didn't stop it from hurting.

"Dark cyber-elves! And aren't we fun?" the middle one said.

"Get somewhere safe," Mega Man hissed to his friends. "So electronic creatures that can take physical form," Mega Man said more loudly to the elves. "But can I force you back into cyberspace?"

"Maybe you can, maybe you can't," one of the elves said with a giggle. The question was more meant to be rhetorical, but the elves seemed to enjoy sadistic games be they physical or mental.

"Leave the humans alone though," Mega Man said. "I'm the intruder, they merely followed me."

"They follow, they intrude. Besides they move with physical bodies so they can be burnt," one of the elves said cheerily.

"But they haven't done anything! Why hurt them!?"

"Because it's so much fun!" the elves cried together and charged up for another wave of fireballs.

Mega Man sighed sadly. _You leave me no choice then. Oh how I hate fighting_, he thought. From his gauntlets came the hilt of the energy blade he'd taken from the ninjas which he activated instantly. He'd made some modifications before he'd left and now it had a new form and stronger properties. Its form was now that of a sabre instead of a katana with its blade re-coloured a rich blue like his armour. He swung the blade at each fireball and deflected them and with deft precision he jumped up into the air and swung the blade cleanly through each body.

The blade did its work well as the small creatures returned to cyberspace with screeches and howls. However one sound cut through Mega Man's tears at having to fight so hard. That sound was the sound of giggles; sadistic giggles. The Blue Bomber landed on his feet and sniffed. "I wish I didn't have to do that," he murmured sadly. He looked up when he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. It was Jalon who was smiling in a comforting way, but also looking sad.

"I know it hurts to have to be a warrior," he said. "But if you didn't fight then we'd all be dead."

"I know..." Mega Man said sadly. "But just because I have to fight doesn't mean I like it."

"I know," Jalon said. "But at least you didn't really kill them," he added with an attempt at a positive tone.

"Yeah... you're right," Mega Man said quietly. He took a deep breath and began walking again gesturing for his friends to follow. "However now we know what we're up against, and we also know cyber-elves were created as benevolent and playful creatures. However something happened here to create to corrupt them."

"Probably a virus," Jalon theorized.

"Agreed," Mega Man replied. "Rush!"

"Rocket sled mode sir?"

"You got it," Mega Man said with a thumbs up. "And stop being so formal buddy, you'll give yourself an ulcer."

Rush chuckled to himself and morphed his shape into the rocket sled which the boys were soon sitting in. They moved at a slightly faster pace this time, with Mega Man standing at the ready in case more of the dark cyber-elves appeared. And they did. Another set of three initially, but soon more and more of the little critters appeared from the lava until the air was almost alight with their small flaming forms.

They weren't all the same either. Besides the strange fetal lizards, there were also what could best be described as simply floating heads, with a single spike seeping back from the top and the same antennae ears. There was also a kind that had small, almost ragdoll-like bodies with the same sort of heads as the lizards, except with the horns point upwards and backwards instead of curving towards each other. But Mega Man stood with his sword, the M-Saber as he called it in tribute to his youngest brother's friend Zero, and with deft skill sliced through the creatures as they came. When each 'died' it burst into flames and vanished back into cyberspace.

It wasn't just creatures though. Mega Man and Rush had to work in swift tandem as jets of lava shot into the air, flaming gas erupted from cracks, and great spikes of rock shot up in front of them. There was barely time to dodge these hazards and several times Mega Man or Rush hissed or gasped in pain as one of them ended up feeling the edge of a flaming gas eruption or lava jet. Luckily despite the beatings they were taking they were both armoured enough to survive and Mega Man's nanites would take any lull in the action to do as much repair as they could. Rush on the other hand was busy flying, and protecting the humans so Mega Man took as many hits as he could.

"Just like the old days eh Rush?" Mega Man quipped as he pulled his buster arm out of the way of a flame geyser.

"Tell me about it. How're the humans doing?"

"We're fine," Jalon said. Mega Man took a moment to check on his friends and despite some small burns on their clothes they were actually in pretty good shape. Justin and Lan were marvelling at their android friend's sword skills while Hub and Jalon had more serious looks on their faces, but there was still an obvious admiration in their expressions as well. Likewise there was a level of graveness in Justin and Lan's faces and Mega Man was glad that they all understood the situation and he had to admit that it was kind of nice having his friends along or this might have been a lonely trip. _No_, he thought when realizing how his mind had begun to change. _I just need Rush, I don't need to get close to humans anymore._

All of a sudden a great wall of rocks rose in front of Rush and he was taken by such surprise that he stopped giving time for a spike of volcanic rock to shoot up from the ground and shake him causing Mega Man to lose his balance and go flying over the wall from the force of the impact behind him. He crashed into the volcanic ground hard, but he was designed to be rather durable to falls. However he still ended up winded and he had to take a few moments to catch his breath. "The next part you have to do alone," said the voice of Deses. "Don't worry, we'll leave the humans and dog unharmed."

Mega Man looked around frantically to see if he could see where his friends were, but they were nowhere in the city square he was now in. "You better not hurt them!" the android yelled furiously to the air. "If you don't keep your word there will be nowhere in this tower where you'll be safe!" It was a threat with such passion that the entire city seemed to go quiet in a brief surge of fear amongst all the cyber-elves. Not a single one of the creatures giggled at Mega Man's threat, but the commanding cyber-elves, for Deses and Detruis could only be cyber-elves, quickly regained their confidence before speaking once more in their taunting voices, "They shall not be harmed, you needn't worry your cute little face off."

Mega Man growled at the taunting compliment. Naturally he didn't trust them, but what good would arguing do? Still he whirled around and fired off shot after shot at the thick rock walls. They did nothing. Sure the plasma melted some of the rock, but he didn't have enough energy to blast his way through the whole thing. So once again he was stuck playing his enemies' game.

The city square he was in was quite large and reminded him of Times Square a bit. Except this square was in ruins with smoke and fire in the air and great streams of lava flowing across it and into a massive lake of lava that seemed to take up most of the city from this point forwards. On the brighter side he was sure he was on the right track towards the next level of the tower. There was no other direction to go besides across the lava lake anyways.

Picking himself up off the ground Mega Man ran across the square stopping and swerving to avoid geysers of hot gas. The entire city looked post-apocalyptic and here near the center it was just a molten wasteland. He hopped over one of the rivers of lava flowing into the lake like it was a small puddle, not a several meter wide crevice. However even his body's cooling systems were starting to take a slight strain from the heat. He'd never had to wander through such a large area with so much heat. Fire Man and Heat Man were in factories, this was a whole city!

And as if the pools and streams of lava weren't bad enough more of the fire-type cyber elves popped up from the molten rock. By now Mega Man was quite good at taking them out, finding that his buster was just as effective as the sword. It seemed that as he moved across the city it was getting more and more volcanic. At length he came to the shore of the lava lake and was at a loss of how to continue.

As he stood there he became rather aware of how little he actually spoke when working solo. It was weird because ordinarily he was fairly talkative as Proto Man often made note in the past. He sighed as he looked across the great span of orange and red and realized how lonely he was feeling. His friends were being held away from him, and now he was nowhere near his family. More than anything he missed his siblings, especially Roll who was his twin sister. He'd learned how to deal with his brother's absences, but Roll had always been there at home waiting for him along with Dr. Light.

He was beginning to think the only way forwards would be to go around the lake, which would certainly be the safest route, but also the longest. However he took a moment to do a scan of the area and his sensors picked up something his eyes had missed. There were several islands of rock across the lake and also floating platforms moving back and forth supported by some unseen force. His eyes had missed these because currently they were all a distance away, but when he turned his scanners off he saw that one of the platforms was moving towards him at a good pace.

"You're always telling me not to be so reckless Rush," Mega Man said to himself with a mischievous tone and as the red platform drew near he jumped with all his enhanced leg power and landed right in the middle of the platform. "But that doesn't mean I'm actually gonna stop," he finished. He waited as the platform drew near another and made the jump and once again landed dead center. He gazed ahead with his bright blue eyes and prepared for a jump to the island of rock.

Just as he took off the ground rumbled and shook causing him to land awkwardly on the island and fall on his butt. He picked himself up and tried to keep his balance, but to no avail and he had to drop to the ground until the rumbling and shaking ceased. He stood only to see fireballs, or more precisely the head-like cyber-elves wreathed in flame leaping from the lava and falling down again like they were playing some kind of game with each other.

"This would be so much easier if I had kept the Ice Slasher," Mega Man murmured. This time the closest platform was to his right at a diagonal and was moving up and down instead of back and forth. He waited for the platform to sink down and jumped. His stomach lurched when he realized he might overshoot, and he whirled in midair and grabbed the edge of the platform as it came up. He hung there for several seconds before easily pulling himself up onto the platform where he sat for several minutes while his synthetic heart, or power core rather, raced furiously in response to the near-death experience. That's what he got for being reckless.

Mega Man made his next jumps a little more carefully; he had an electronic brain so he decided to use it now. Unfortunately he wasn't using it to its fullest extent and a couple of his jumps went astray, though not as much as his fourth. At last he jumped and landed on a large circular island of rock with a small bridge across to the shore after which there was a short road to a large door. "One of the ways out!" Mega Man cried happily and jumped from the floating platform to the island and ran towards the door. "You can let my friends go now!" he cried out to Detruis and Deses.

"Oh you're not done yet little boy! And besides your friends are ours for now," Detruis giggled.

"What!? You said!"

"We said they'd be unharmed, which they are. They're just sealed in energy bubbles throughout the final level," Deses said.

"In fact they're safer than you are right now!" Detruis added. "Come out Lord Vulcan! Destroy this pesky little intruder!"

From the lava lake jumped a massive figure that landed on the island with a tremendous _BOOM!_ The figure straightened up to reveal itself as a thirteen foot tall robot designed to look something like a huge man in rusted armour. The head was conical like a metal volcano with a grating where the mouth would be and a pair of vents on his huge shoulder plates that looked to be styled after industrial vents of some kind. On the robot's chest was a great red orb with a black 'x' across it and it wielded a great hammer which looked quite hot, as well as an arm cannon that was glowing with heat. "You are the intruder into the realm of Dark Arcadia!" the robot boomed, its voice clearly masculine. "A puny child like you shall be easy to squash!"

Mega Man's right arm shifted into his buster, but he kept it at his side. "Please sir, I don't want to fight you. Just let me pass here," he pleaded.

"I'll not allow you to further intrude into the realm of the dark queen," Vulcan rumbled like a volcano. He brought his great hammer hurtling down towards Mega Man, the entire head aflame. The boy android gasped and dove out of the way, the hammer crashing just centimetres from his heel.

Mega Man hit the ground and rolled into a crouched shooting position, but kept his cannon lowered. "One last chance," he yelled. "Stop fighting and let me pass."

"You have no power here boy!" Vulcan roared and swung the hammer again. Mega Man acted too soon and the hammer rammed sideways into his back and he cried out in pain. Not just from the force to his back, but the immense heat. He lay there winded as the great robot advanced and readied his hammer for a second strike. But by this point in his life Mega Man was a very seasoned warrior and it took more than having the breath knocked out of him to get him down.

He rolled aside and jumped up into a fighting pose, the M-Sabre in his left hand and his buster ready on his right arm. "Remember, you chose this," Mega Man said and with a great jump and sudden flurry of attacks he'd fired off several plasma shots at Vulcan's face and the distraction gave him enough time to sink his sword into the weak jewel on the hammer head. As he'd suspected it was a weak point and the electrical sword conducted along the hammer causing Vulcan enough surprise to drop it.

Mega Man dropped to the ground and after taking a deep breath he used all his enhanced strength to lift up the massive hammer and, his synthetic muscles complaining from the weight, he moved as fast as he could towards the edge of the platform and hurled the hammer into the lava. Although it wasn't harmed by the molten rock, it did sink out of sight and Vulcan would have to abandon the fight to retrieve it.

However Vulcan was not so easily gotten rid of and the large robot gazed down at his blue opponent with flaming fury in his eyes. "You cannot beat me so easily blue one." He brought his arm forwards and shot a great gout of flame at Mega Man.

Mega Man jumped over the flames and landed under the giant robot's arm and quickly dashed away. So he needed a new plan, he could improvise. Another blast of flame from the arm-mounted cannon and Mega Man slid under the blast and fired off several plasma shots. Yet it did nothing but stun the giant. _There has to be a weakness_, Mega Man thought frantically as he narrowly avoided another shot of flame. The heat of the entire place was horrible and his cooling systems really needed a break after several hours in the molten city, not to mention the giant fire spewing robot in front of him.

Just as Vulcan charged up another blast of flame Mega Man saw it, the orb on the robot's chest. Whenever Vulcan attacked the orb glowed brighter; perhaps it was a power source of some kind. Nevertheless Mega Man had an idea now and with M-Sabre in hand he stared up at the robot and readied himself for a jump. The energy was charging in his arm cannon, he could feel the power and pressure building up until it was maxed out and then just as the orb glowed Mega Man fired a massive charged shot at his adversary's face.

Vulcan reeled back from the force of the blast and Mega Man jumped with all his might and plunged his sword right into the orb before drawing back for several more slashes. He retreated as his adversary came to his senses, but something weird was happening and Mega Man looked at the damage he had done with a curious face.

The orb was sparking furiously and there was a dark smoke seeping from it. Quite abruptly the smoke consumed the orb and it seemed to disintegrate away leaving a diamond shaped light shining brightly on the robot's chest. Mega Man looked up at the robot's face and he felt a bubble of happiness rise in him as Vulcan's red eyes faded and his real, synthetic eyes appeared. "Wha-what happened?" the robot asked, the rust falling from his body to a reveal bright red and orange colour scheme. He suddenly noticed Mega Man in front of him with weapons lowered. "Oh my, I was infected... I hope I didn't hurt you little friend."

Mega Man smiled in spite of his circumstances. He'd won a battle without having to destroy his adversary and that was enough to make happiness course through his body like blood. He deactivated his weapons and bowed before his new acquaintance. "Nice to meet the real Lord Vulcan," he said politely. "You hurt me a little, but I just hope I didn't hurt you too much either."

Vulcan chuckled, the vast amounts of flame dying down as well as the mind-control induced rage vanished. "Some scratches, but nothing my nanites can't handle. I imagine you have questions aplenty for me, and I think I can answer them," he said. "But first..." Vulcan added and raised his arms high before sweeping them down and out horizontally.

Mega Man sighed with relief as the heat diminished greatly and the city, though still warm, returned to normal. The lava cooled and hardened into rock which rose up to fill the cracks it had formed and the leaking gas was covered over. The sky changed into a clear night one and a cool wind blew through the city, not cold, but like night time in the tropics. Mega Man took off his helmet and let the sweat on his face and in his hair be dried by the cool breeze.

"There's a volcano on the west side of the city that's used for heating purposes," Vulcan explained. "I man the volcano and city heating systems and I'm of particular use here where the lava is used to create hot springs and to keep the place warm like a tropical city."

"You mean like Hawaii?" Mega Man asked, the warrior persona was gone for now, he was just a boy again. He was smiling broadly at having actually done some real good.

"Exactly. I'd be careful with that smile there kid, the Lady of Nature in Neo Arcadia will be all over you once you free her. She likes children, and that smile's cute enough to keep her well attached to you."

Mega Man blushed at the compliment and that surge of happiness remained, but soon the situation's weight came back to him and he grew serious again. "These cyber-elves captured my friends and they're making me run this ten level obstacle course."

"Yes I know, come we must talk."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Vulcan gestured for Mega Man to follow him and the android did, the two reaching a wide plaza with a warm water fountain in the middle. They sat beside it and for a time just rested from their battle. Mega Man didn't have much trouble though. He ran off of solar energy which he used to charge up his energy cells and even the fake sunlight in Neo Arcadia was enough for him. He laid back and took a deep, relaxed breath as the energy returned to his body, coursing through every electronic nerve and synthetic vein.

"Lord Vulcan sir," Mega Man began.

"Oh you don't need to call me 'sir'. You don't really need to call me 'lord' either, but you can. Also I don't believe you've properly introduced yourself my little friend."

"Oh right! My name is Rock Light, but when I'm a warrior like now I'm Mega Man."

"Mega Man? You mean the robot Lord X was based on? You're the Forebearer!" Vulcan said excitedly.

"You know X? Where is he? I have to talk to him!" He was surprised to see Vulcan suddenly bow to him. "Um what's that for?" Mega Man asked.

"You are the Forebearer, the one who would lead to the creation of the Primes, X and Zero. You are, or were, a legend within these walls. The Queen Mother always said that one day you would awake from your timeless slumber."

Once again in this new time Mega Man was struck dumb by the stories and legends that had apparently built up around him. To think he'd become part of a prophecy and legend was almost too strange to believe. "Please you don't need to treat me formally or royally, I'd kind of like you to just treat me like any fellow robot."

"My apologies Mega Man."

Mega Man grinned cheerfully, but his face dropped to one of seriousness. "Vulcan, I need to know what happened here and what happened to my brother."

"Well then you better be ready for story. Don't worry about your friends, Deses and Detruis weren't lying when they said they were safe. They always keep their word, and I'll tell you why." Mega Man shifted his weight a little until he was comfortable then lay still and listened, giving Vulcan a thumbs up as an indicator to start. Mega Man was just enjoying the warm, power cell fuelling sun. "Well long ago after Zero's final fight to save our great city from the evil Dr. Weil the city of Neo Arcadia was left in ruins. Heaven and the Dead Zone were completely destroyed and most of the population was killed. So Lady Ciel led a reconstruction effort, converting the Temple into the new Neo Arcadia.

"To assist in this effort new devices were added that allowed cyber-elves to attain nigh permanent physical forms allowing them to help in the reconstruction. In fact once the human revitalization project was completed the humans decided to leave Neo Arcadia as a paradise for cyber-elves and robots. Both Reploids and mechaniloids living in peace and watched over by the cyber-elves and Queen Mother Elf. My role was that of a Guardian, one of the watchers and protectors of the city levels, there are others for each level. It was five or so years of pure bliss for us all and then something happened."

Mega Man sat up with a concerned frown on his face; Vulcan had stopped and was sitting silently with a saddened look in his eyes. "Lord Vulcan? Are you okay?" Mega Man asked kindly.

Vulcan shook his head. "Sorry Mega Man, it's just... they aren't good memories."

Mega Man got to his feet and brushed himself off a bit. "Well then there's no need for you to continue to delve into them," he said with a kind smile. As much as he was loving the story and the information it gave him he was not about to force someone to do something that they were unhappy to do.

"The kindness is appreciated Mega Man, but you have to hear the rest. You can't go ahead blindly," Vulcan said sternly.

Mega Man shrugged. "I usually do. We robots aren't just brains anymore, we have hearts too. I have a heart and I let it lead me to what's right." He gave a trademark smile, wink and thumbs up. "Don't worry Vulcan, I'll be fine."

Vulcan had met enough of the child-based reploids, some of them taking on guard duties, to know that such androids were impossible to argue with in circumstances like this. Zero hadn't ever been one for extreme caution either, nor X. So Vulcan sighed, but would not let Mega Man leave without some final words on the current state of the tower. "You must remember that each Guardian has been filled with darkness and rage. It's those orbs, find them and destroy them and the Guardian will be freed and protected from further attack."

"Right," Mega Man affirmed.

"Also Deses and Detruis are not going to be happy you re-conquered this city, so be careful of the cyber-elves. Lastly, your friends I imagine are scattered throughout the cities, but once a Guardian is free they should be able to find them."

"Got it!" Mega Man turned to leave, but stopped as another question came to his mind. "Oh yeah what's the next level?"

"The cooling units are there, so it is the City of Ice where my brother Cryos lives. Your plasma shots should work well enough, but don't underestimate him."

Mega Man smiled confidently. "Oh, but I've taken the time we've been talking to fully download the specs for your Flamethrower weapon to my VWS, so now I can do this," he informed before his armour colour changed to orange with red boots, helmet, gauntlets and waist area. He raised his cannon and shot a stream of flame into the ground and stood there with a broad grin on his face at Vulcan's amazement.

"No wonder they call you the Forebearer, you can do anything can't you?" he said at last with a teasing tone. Mega Man chuckled and reverted to his normal colouring. "Interesting display. Now while you liberate the rest of the tower I must search for my city's reploid populace. The cyber-elves imprisoned and shut down all of the reploid populace of each city that remained. I can sense them somewhere within my city, so I must go find them," Vulcan explained. "Until we meet again!" And he was off, his hammer suddenly back in his hands and resting over his shoulder.

As the large elevator rose to the next level Mega Man could feel the temperature dropping with every foot upwards. Well at least his temperature control systems had been given a chance to rest and his solar bath had recharged his systems anyways. So when his sensors told him the temperature had dropped to minus fifteen degrees Celsius he switched on his heating systems. It was a good move because the temperature dropped another fifteen degrees before the elevator stopped.

The force fields faded away and Mega Man's mouth dropped open as he stepped out into a frozen wasteland. The sky was dark with clouds full of snow and snow crunched under his boots as he walked out onto one of many snow dunes. He used his sensors and found the snow to be three feet deep in some spots. He'd have to avoid those because that was almost as tall as him. He could see buildings frozen all over with ice sticking out of the snow. It seemed he was not on the highway now and among the mounds of snow, frozen buildings, and low dark clouds he couldn't see the overpass. Just like below he'd have to wind his way through the snow and ice, sticking to the parts where the snow was only a foot deep.

It wasn't long before the clouds broke and snow began to fall. What started as a light snowfall quickly picked up into a blizzard. This blizzard and the lack of enemies was a clear sign to him that the dark elves were trying a different tactic. They were trying to use the city environs themselves to dissuade him from further progress. It did quite the opposite, toughening his resolve as he pushed further through the wind and snow. His heating systems were working fine and considering his battle upgrades had included toughening up these systems to deal with long-time exposure to Antarctic conditions he was quite confident he'd hold out.

Still despite his strength and endurance the wind and blinding snow were both wearisome obstacles. "The snow will not stop me Deses and Detruis! You better think of something else!" Mega Man yelled into the wind. From the snow suddenly emerged several robots that dashed towards him at high speed. Soon he saw they were robot wolves and mounted on each was a cyber-elf with a proper humanoid body, though small like an imp's and with two horizontal and two vertical decorative spikes of green and gold coming from the jewel on their foreheads. Their wings were larger and the horns were sticking outwards like fox ears.

"Very well android," the cyber-elves said making no effort to hide their dislike for him. "Let's play a new game! It's called Wolf Chase, you hafta run away from us through the blizzard, but we won't stop following you until you leave the city."

Mega Man gritted his teeth and fired at the robots, but found he missed. He switched to his flamethrower and circled around while fire a stream of flame. He heard one of the robot wolves squeal and collapse and a cyber-elf scream furiously as it returned to cyberspace. "Got'cha!" Mega Man cheered.

"Only one of us little boy, we have quite a few optical tricks that'll dazzle even your eyes! And how long can you keep up the flame hose hm?" one of the elves giggled condescendingly. They were right; every time he tried to aim at one it disappeared and reappeared just inches away. Maybe it was some kind of quick teleport, or a holographic double. He was also pretty sure the snow helped it in some way. So he was left with the only thing he could really do: run.

He jumped over the ring of robotic wolves, or as best he judged where they were and began running as soon as his feet touched the ground. Behind him he could hear the electronic barks of the wolves and the sadistic giggles of the elves. He shot a blast of flame back at them and heard a squeal of surprise from one of the robot wolves, but not the sound of anything stopping. Still he'd caused a delay which was enough for him to get ahead.

He came to an intersection and dived down a smaller side street and was stopping for a moment when he heard someone whisper and tap his leg. Mega Man looked down to see a stone section flipped up and a human, or possibly reploid, face looking at him and shushed him when he almost cried out and aimed his blaster at the person. "I'm sorry I startled you, but please get down here! I can help you."

Without much time to argue Mega Man agreed and climbed into the hole. The stone was slid shut and he heard wolf feet trample past. "Can't D and D find us?" Mega Man asked.

"Don't worry, I built an emitter to disinfect the area of the virus. They won't be able to find us here," the voice whispered. Mega Man followed the figure, dressed in a white cloak, down the short flight of stone steps and into a well lit cavern.

"Thanks for the help, um..."

"My name's Glace, nice to meet you Forebearer," his rescuer said, turning and pulling down her hood to reveal her to be a girl about his age in design with snow-white hair and clear blue eyes. "As a reploid it is an honour to meet the one who would lead to the first of our kind."

Mega Man felt his cheeks redden as he looked at the girl. She's very pretty, he thought. He quickly hid his face by turning to the wall and looking it over instead. He wasn't sure he'd ever felt like this. His power core was beating rapidly again and he just felt like he wanted to melt. "My name's Mega Man," he said, trying to keep the stutter from his voice. "W-well actually my name's Rock, b-but I call myself Mega Man when I'm fighting 'cause I don't want to mix my battle and peaceful identities."

"Nice to meet you Mega Man," Glace said politely. Her voice was soft and gentle and she spoke politely, and although she addressed him as Forebearer she didn't say it in a star struck way, but just as a way of being polite. "Is everything okay Mega Man?" she asked, touching him gently on the shoulder.

Mega Man's heart doubled in pace again at the touch and he felt like he was going to burst with this strange happiness sickness. He just felt so happy and sick, and nervous. His heart was racing and there was that sensation like butterflies in his stomach. "N-no I'm fine," he stuttered. His sensors noted a two degrees increase in body temperature unrelated to his heating systems, now turned down because of the cavern. However he was sure his blushing had faded a bit so he turned to face the girl with a smile on his face. "No I'm fine. So where are we?" he asked in an effort to divert his mind from all these weird feelings he was having.

Glace sat down on a small bed and sighed sadly. "My little hideout where I've been living safe for fifty years. When the virus came and infected the Mother Elf, she and the cyber-elves went berserk on us reploids. Captured, destroyed and imprisoned us by the hundreds. I found this place and installed the disinfection emitter."

Mega Man's expression changed to one of concern as he sat next to her on the bed. "Have you been down here all by yourself for all that time?" he asked. Glace nodded sadly. "Wow, it's a wonder you didn't go mad."

"A human might have, but we reploids aren't so needy of others of our kind. Besides I'm not _completely_ alone. I have my robot dog Scout, she keeps an eye on the tunnels we built," Glace said, pointing to a door. The room was a little larger than Mega Man had initially thought. It was about the size of an average apartment with separate rooms for kitchen and washroom.

_So X and the reploids really were designed like me_, Mega Man thought with amusement at the sight of the bathroom. "I miss my robo-dog," Mega Man said sadly. "Rush, he was captured by the elves."

"Oh no!" Glace gasped. "What happened?"

"We were below in the fire area and I was torn away from the group. D and D said they wouldn't hurt them though."

"Them?"

"I was followed here by some friends, humans." Mega Man told her his story up to this point, including a brief recap of his return to life in the world. At that part he noticed her smiling and he tried very hard to keep the blush from his cheeks.

Once Mega Man had finished his story Glace was silent for a time and Mega Man could tell she was thinking. "They're safe from D and D, but not from the Dark Queen. That would be something Lord Vulcan forgot."

"How could he forget that?" Mega Man asked with alarm.

"Because Mega Man, not many intruders are seen as important enough for the Dark Queen's attention. But with you permanently curing one of the cities the Queen is not going to see you as insignificant anymore," Glace explained grimly and with definite sorrow.

"I need to find Lord Cryon and cure him," Mega Man said bluntly. "Do your tunnels lead to anywhere near him?"

"I'm not sure. Lord Cryon would probably be in the Ice Mountain where Neo Arcadia's cooling systems are held."

"How did you make all of this?" Mega Man asked. "Volcanoes, mountains of ice, cities that can change shape, and so on?"

Glace gave him a proud, knowing smile. "That's one of the new Neo Arcadia's greatest accomplishments. I don't know the full detail, but it's something to do with millions of nanites that use a unique energy produced by the Mother Elf to function and certain beings can link into the network and shape the interior using the nanites."

"Kind of like reploids of inanimate objects then, but what kind of energy does the Mother Elf produce?"

"You know I never really found out. Anyways come Forebear- I mean Mega Man. I'll get Scout and we'll see how close we can get you to the mountain."

"Okay," Mega Man said with a grin and followed the girl out the door which he realized was made of metal fashioned to look like wood. "I won't rest until Neo Arcadia is back to normal and my friends are safe," he said suddenly.

"That's a dangerous task," Glace said grimly. She smiled a little though and grasped his hand gently as they walked beside each other. "But I know you can do it." From this angle Mega Man was sure she'd caught the blush in his cheeks, but he didn't care, because at the moment he was almost in heaven.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Glace whistled a short tune and within minutes a blue robotic dog with synthetic flesh face came bounding out of the dimness of the tunnels Mega Man and Glace stood in. "You called mistress? Oh hello there sir," Scout said politely with a bow to both androids.

"I'm Mega Man, nice to meet you Scout," Mega Man said with a bow of his own.

"Forebearer? What an honour it is, sir."

"Oh you don't need to treat me with any formalities," Mega Man said sheepishly.

"As you wish. Why did you call me, mistress?" Scout asked.

"Scout we need your help," Glace said. "Mega Man's friends here have been captured by D and D, and although they promised not to harm them he's cleansed one of the levels."

Scout's dog face dropped and so did her tail. "Oh you poor thing," she said to Mega Man. "The Dark Queen is terrible if roused."

"And I'm going to get to her and heal her as well," Mega Man said bravely. "But first I need to heal Lord Cryon and to do that I need to get to the Ice Mountain."

"Yes, so are there any tunnels that lead close to the mountain Scout?" Glace asked.

Scout looked down at the ground in thought. "The closest one I can think of comes up by the big suspension bridge, but you'll have to cross it and climb the mountain to the top and then work your way down to the centre. The main entrance is guarded really well so that's really the only way into Cryon's chambers."

"I can take out guards," Mega Man said.

"It's not just guards; it's also turrets and a foot of solid ice and thick blast steel. Even the Flamethrower would be useless."

Mega Man nodded affirmatively. "Okay, I want to keep fighting to a minimum anyways."

"A warrior who's also a pacifist," Glace mused. "All the stories were right about you Forebearer, you're a truly amazing robot. Brave, loyal, and kind."

Mega Man felt his power core beat faster again and his temperature go up and his cheeks redden. Compliments had made him blush before, but he'd never felt so thrilled and so woozy at them being said. He couldn't figure out what these feelings were, and they felt both awful and wonderful. At length Mega Man noticed Scout staring at him oddly and remembered that robot dogs were quite good at detecting changes in emotions in other robots, not that he was being terribly opaque about this Happy Fever. "Th-thanks," he stuttered at last to Glace. "Now w-we should get moving." Scout and Glace gave him affirmative looks and they started down the tunnels.

The tunnels were all under the disinfection emitter, so Mega Man used the opportunity to talk to Glace more. "So when were you made?" he asked.

"Just before Dr. Weil took over the old Neo Arcadia, but I was under the radar. Zero saved us, as he always did. I even met Lady Ciel once."

"And then this place was rebuilt as a paradise for reploids and cyber-elves," Mega Man added. "After the defeat of Dr. Weil."

"Yup that's right," Glace said almost happily. "But then of course this happened."

"Will you tell me the rest of the story?" Mega Man asked.

Glace sighed, but nodded sadly. "Yes of course, I can handle it. Well after a while of our paradise there came a day fifty years ago when some kind of virus got into the system and took over the Mother Elf who was of course the queen of Neo Arcadia. I don't think anyone knows where it came from, but it came. Once again Mother Elf was transformed into the Dark Elf who renamed herself the Dark Queen and spread her corruption to Crea and Prea, the Baby Elves who were her closest children and now her most powerful servants. You know them as Detruis and Deses.

"Her corruption spread to the other cyber-elves rapidly and reploids were slaughtered in the hundreds while they tried to fight back. But each of the Guardians was placed under the control of the Dark Elf and any remaining reploids were imprisoned. It was the darkest day in Neo Arcadian history." Glace finished her story sadly and her walking speed slowed to a stop as tears wetted her eyes. Mega Man pulled her into a comforting embrace, one he'd used on his sister many a time, but this time there was something else to it that made it feel all the more special.

"What happened to my brother?" he asked when she had finished, recovered and begun to walk again.

"X? I don't really know. I know he was the one elf who would not submit to the virus' corruption, but I don't know what She did with him."

"Could She have deleted him?" Mega Man asked apprehensively.

Glace shook her head. "I don't think she could. Most of the reploids who became cyber-elves can't be deleted unless they choose to be."

"Oh... well that's good I guess." Mega Man sighed sadly and his face turned grim, but his expression softened again when he glanced at Glace. "So Glace are you just a civilian model?"

"Nope, I'm... well I was made for a rich man who wanted a daughter," Glace said pensively. "But I'm not a civilian model because he had me specially designed to be able to defend myself. You see he lost his real daughter to Copy X and had me made as a replacement, but also as a new being."

"How do you defend yourself?"

"Low level cryokineses, just to ice up feet and hands."

Mega Man walked in silence for a moment, turning corners after Scout without much thought or attention. His gaze kept slipping to Glace and how beautiful he thought she was; her white hair that was shiny with the eternal youth her physical form held, like him. It didn't look like the hair of Dr. Light which was white with age. Then her slim and pale face with ice-blue eyes just made him feel all the more woozy. She wore a black skin-tight bodysuit that covered most of her athletically designed body and over this wore a light blue skirt and short-sleeved vest-like shirt that let her stomach show a little. "Hey Glace I was kind of more wondering if you could tell me about, um y'know, you."

"Oh," Glace uttered shyly. "Well I used to live in the original Neo Arcadia, but I moved here when it was rebuilt as this tower city. I can show you my home when everything's not buried under several feet of snow."

Mega Man smiled "Okay, cool."

"Alright you two we're almost there!" Scout called back. "And once we get out be ready for a fight!" Mega Man and Glace exchanged determined looks and dashed up ahead to catch up with Scout.

Mega Man climbed up the short steps to the loose stone that opened up into the city. He looked down at Glace and Scout as he stood there. The moment he stepped out of the hole he'd be back in range of the Dark Twins, as he'd begun to call them, and if he didn't move quickly enough he might reveal the location of the hideout. There was something holding him back though, and he couldn't figure out what. "Come with me Glace," he blurted out.

"What?" she asked with surprise.

"You heard me. Please come with me, and Scout. I'll need the help." He hadn't the foggiest why he was asking her to come into danger with him, but he just didn't think he could stand to be away from her. It was that Happy Fever, it felt so wonderful and it made him want to be near her.

"I have to decline Mega Man. I may be a specially built reploid, but I'm not far above a civilian model." Mega Man pouted at this, but realized it probably was for her own good, but it was still sort of a letdown. "But I'll be here at the end of the bridge waiting for you once Cryon's been cured. Okay?"

Mega Man's pout vanished at this and he smiled again. The smile turned to a blush when Glace embraced him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He thought he was going to melt from that he was so happy and so thrilled. His legs felt all wobbly and he just felt ecstatic. "O-okay, be safe then," he stuttered and climbed up out of the tunnel as fast as possible so as to not give the Dark Twins time to clue into where he'd been. Hopefully as far as they knew he'd vanished in one spot and reappeared in another.

Pushing the stone back into place he stood in the snow covered street once more as the wind howled around him with snowflakes melting on his face. He did like winters, but not when he was being pursued by robot dogs. He took a deep breath and began to walk towards the suspension bridge he could see to his right. Mega Man figured a slower pace might garner him a little extra time before the Twins noticed he'd returned, or at least make the wolves bored. The elves liked games, so perhaps if he didn't play their game they'd leave him alone, or make themselves more vulnerable.

He was just setting foot on the bridge when a loud howl rent the cold air around him. He whirled around and at the far end of the street saw the wolf pack charging towards him at full speed with cyber elves ushering them forwards from their backs. In need of some kind of plan he turned and dashed up the hill of the bridge at full speed, which was quite a pace indeed with his enhanced legs. Once in the middle of the bridge he stopped and turned to face the oncoming wolves. Here on the bridge there wouldn't be enough room for them to use their trick.

The wolves pressed ever onwards and Mega Man drew the M-Sabre. He had a sudden thought and in a flash his armour had changed colour and he blasted the road all around him with the Flamethrower until he'd melted through the asphalt and the relatively thin metal below until he was standing on an isolated section of bridge. Then he raised his sword and sliced through a couple cables on each side and making sure it wasn't enough to cause the bridge to collapse entirely, or at least not yet.

The wolves were nearing him now and he caught a close enough glance at what they were doing as the blizzard let up for a moment. "Rapid short-range teleport with a momentary holographic after image!" Mega Man cried out as the wolves skidded to a stop at the edge of the two foot wide gap. It was an easy jump, but Mega Man now had both his arm sword and his M-Sabre ready to cut more cables, and the cyber-elves weren't ready to forfeit their game. "That's how you're pulling your trick."

"Very good little android," the cyber-elf in charge said. "And now that the blizzard's picking up again we can continue to pull it."

"Listen all of you, you have to try and fight the virus! You're supposed to be good, happy, playful beings, not cruel and sadistic ones. And if you can hear me virus know that I will free the Mother Elf from your grasp," Mega Man announced passionately.

The elves milled about for a moment and Mega Man noticed a vague lightening of their dark violet colour, but it didn't last. "Nice try, but Dark Queen will destroy you, that is if we don't first."

Mega Man gritted his teeth and prepared to slice the cables. In the blizzard it would be impossible to fight them, but he could destroy the bridge. He didn't want to and he looked at the cyber-elves and decided he had to give it one more try "Come on! Can you remember your name? What was your name? Think back to before the virus and break free. I know there's an uncorrupted part in you. You were made to _fight _a virus. The Sigma Virus, remember?"

The lead cyber-elf flickered to a pinkish-purple as it sat there mounted. "Cut the cables and run," it said darkly and with effort. "Do it now! I'm only barely holding it off!" The other elves looked the same and the wolves growled as their master's sat there in indecisiveness. Mega Man nodded and bolted down the bridge, cutting cables and dodging them as they released their tension like massive steel whips. He jumped, back flipped, and pulled a number of other acrobatic stunts that would've earned him a gold medal. It was times like these he was especially glad to have an electronic brain.

He jumped back to the road and ran as the bridge started to sway and buckle. Mega Man gulped as he ran the last couple meters and his stomach lurched when he felt the bridge begin sinking. He ran with all his might and made it off the far end just as it gave way and collapsed behind him into the icy river below. The wolves howled, the cyber-elves screamed, and Mega Man sighed sadly. He was cut off now, but then again Lord Cryon could probably repair the bridge. On that note he looked ahead of him and saw the road ahead go right up the base of a mountain of pure ice, like an iceberg on land. In fact that would be a better term for it, a land iceberg. Literally a giant chunk of ice maybe three hundred and fifty feet high. So there probably was a large industrial building underneath.

Mega Man looked ahead and saw the road did eventually end at a solid wall of ice with the edges of some kind of large eight foot entrance, but indeed blocked by ice. He tried to blast it with flame, but not only did he barely dent it, but the ice regrew. After several more attempts the android sighed in frustration. It really was true, the entrance was impassable so that meant going back to the original plan; climbing. The ice block was uneven and slippery though and Mega Man hadn't the foggiest of how he was going to climb it.

Walking to the right and inspecting for a way up he was surprised to find a series of black rails imbedded into the ice like a ladder. In fact they were so imbedded that they were covered by a thin layer of ice just to make it all the more dangerous. It also didn't seem to go all the way up, but stopped at what Mega Man's scans indicated was some kind of small ledge. Following the ledge back to the front and other side of the entrance he saw another series of black rails imbedded into the ice further up and just before the ledge stopped.

Circling back to the first ladder he sighed again as the wind whipped the snow around him in a whirlwind of white and his breath puffing in the cold and being blown away. Having had a break in the tunnels his self-heating systems were as sterling as ever and he barely noticed the cold, but he was really wishing he'd taken up wearing shades or some kind of visor. "Proto Man had the right idea with those," he muttered absentmindedly. He fired his flamethrower at the bars enough to melt the ice on them and he immediately began climbing.

The ice grew back as he climbed and made the bars slippery and so he had to fire his flamethrower to melt the ice again. As he climbed, and almost slipped multiple times, he ran through in his mind the Robot Masters that would have no problem with this. Ice Man of course could handle ice with no problem. "General Sir, why do other people have trouble walking on ice?" Ice Man had once said, talking to his other personality. Dr. Light had decided that for a robot who did missions it'd be best to give him both a C.O. and a soldier personality. Rock had always thought it a strange decision, but it made him and Roll laugh sometimes so it was fine. "I'm not sure soldier. Perhaps you should ask one of our brothers," Ice Man had said and turned to Rock. The two had been at a frozen lake at the time and Rock had just slipped rather badly. "Rock... brother, requesting permission to speak with you."

Rock had chuckled. "Permission granted Ice Man, but you don't need to be so formal around family."

"Oh! Sorry I keep forgetting. Well brother my commander suggested I ask you why everyone besides me slips on ice. So why do you?"

Rock had gotten up and placed an arm around his younger brother's shoulders, both of them wearing winter coats for a change. "Well Ice Man ice molecules in contact with air don't bond correctly with the mass of ice beneath and so move sort of like a liquid and create lubriquant which causes a decrease in friction and with less friction most people slip."

Ice Man bowed his head in thought. "I think I understand sir, but why don't I slip?"

"Because dad designed you to cope with it and with various methods to counter the lack of friction; like the roughness on your boots or the spikes that come out of them. They help create extra grip so you don't slide. You're a robot designed to carry out missions in cold and icy places."

"Oh, I see. That's very interesting brother. Would you like to go throw snowballs at Fire Man? Commander thinks it'd be funny and I do too."

Mega Man remembered that day fondly as he climbed the last few rungs of that ladder. It had been fun and back when they were all a family. That was before Wily went insane and his life had changed forever. He and Ice Man had gone and had a great snowball fight with Fire Man and Elec Man, the latter storming off at the 'childish roughness' messing with his snow sculpture building. Fire Man on the other hand eventually stormed towards them promising them to show them _real_ snow ball fighting. They had to run off and Guts Man eventually stepped in and calmed Fire Man down. Then they'd all gone home for hot chocolate and dinner, prepared by Roll who lectured him for getting his clothes soaked in the snow.

Mega Man felt a tear slide down his cheek as he stood on the freezing cold ice ledge. He missed his family, he missed his friends and he missed his old life where he wasn't fighting all the time. "I'm designed to be a kid," he mused to himself as he made his way around the ledge walking along it slowly so as not to fall. "I just want to have fun and help a scientist with his or her work. I'm a kid and a lab assistant; I don't wanna be a warrior."

Of course he knew it wasn't about what he wanted, it was about what had to be done. The fact that his efforts made the world a safer place and prevented millions from being hurt was enough motivation for him to continue his life as a warrior. The whole tower was victim to a horrible curse and he knew it was his job to lift the curse, and if he never became a warrior he'd never have met Glace. At the very thought of her his heart beat faster and he just felt empowered all the more.

He reached the next ladder and Mega Man began climbing that one, stopping now and then to melt the ice. More than once he almost slipped and his heart skipped a beat, but he maintained his grip and continued his climb. The next ledge was reached and Mega Man moved along it to the next ladder and so he continued for some time with various close calls, but he never actually slipped off and his climb finally came to an end three hundred and fifty feet above the city. _Glace is waiting for me down there somewhere_ he thought as he looked at the city spread out under him. Covered in snow it would've been a beautiful sight if the snow weren't suffocating the city.

Mega Man turned from the sight and saw that he stood on a wide ledge circling around a final cone of ice the formed the peak of the mountain. However right in front of him was a door in the ice which wasn't frozen over, but it _was_ locked. Mega Man smiled confidently and within minutes the M-Sabre had sliced clean through the door and he was walking down the steel steps beyond and down into the darkness of the cooling facility.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Mega Man found that he was going down several flights of stairs and to begin with that was all it was. There were no exits or anything, just stairs going down to a landing then more stairs going back the same lateral direction the previous stairs had come from. So down he went, glad to at least be inside where there wasn't ice he could slip from and a huge fall that'd kill him if he fell. However he was ready in case more cyber-elves appeared. Eventually doors started leading off into other parts of the facility and he was getting the feeling he was walking down what was probably the central shaft of the building.

He checked each of the doors and took quick strolls out, but the first ten levels were offices with little more than meeting rooms and various administrative paraphernalia that Mega Man could care less about. Registries, dates, output levels and so on, all very dusty and all dated fifty years ago. So he continued downwards and continued to wonder where he might find Lord Cryon. The next door he came to he pulled open and stepped through onto a catwalk above a huge room filled with pipes and tanks. "This must be where they create and cool the coolant," he mused to himself, jumping down onto the floor. "Or where they created rather," Mega Man added after tracing a trail in the dust on the equipment.

In fact as he made his way through the next ten levels of the facility, each occupied by a massive room filled with the coolant equipment, Mega Man was beginning to form the conclusion that the entire place was abandoned. Then he travelled down through several more levels that seemed to have something to do with another half of the cooling process, perhaps pumping out the coolant. Then there were lunch rooms, storage rooms, and other rooms that seemed to have no point beyond looking good. Though by the time he got to these he was almost at the bottom.

At last the sign next to the door said 'GF' and under that was written ground floor. He opened the door and stepped out into a lobby with abandoned front desk and dusty carpet. Beyond the doors he could see a dim indoor parking lot that was probably once very well lit. "That would be where those big doors at the front lead to," Mega Man murmured "But where is everyone? No cyber-elves, no mavericks, no Lord Cryon."

He sat in a chair in front of the desk and closed his eyes in concentration _They're hiding somewhere, but where?_ Mega Man thought. "Oh!" he cried out, an idea coming to him. "What did Ice Man say? With ice you always see less than there really is. The entire place is shaped like an iceberg so..." he said excitedly, ignoring the fact there was nobody there to hear besides himself. He pressed his ear to the floor and focused on increasing his hearing levels, an auditory scan. There was nothing. He increased the scan's level and still there was nothing. He increased it to level three and heard the humming of great machines working below and more importantly the giggles of cyber-elves.

Standing up straight he grinned at his success, but noticed one missed fact... he had no idea how to get down to those levels. _Ever a new challenge_, he thought wearily and started walking around the large central column of the facility. He counted twelve elevators total, three on each side of the four-edged central shaft. There were doors leading off to tourist sections, apparently for reploids from the other cities, but nothing that he could figure out as the location of the entrance to the underground facility.

While wandering through the empty corridors he came upon a large, long hallway leading to a pair of ornate doors coloured icy blue and with designs looking like ice crystals and snowflakes. "Must be Lord Cryon's chambers," Mega Man mumbled to himself and quickly dashed down the length of the hall. After all perhaps the best place to hide the entrance to Cryon's new realm below was some passage hidden in his chambers. His theory was given more credence by the fact that the doors were locked, whereas the other doors inside were not.

His sword already in his hand he sliced through the doors and kicked the remains out of the way. The blue android walked into a fair sized throne room at one end of a long ice blue carpet that ended at the foot of a throne of ice. It was one of the many feats accomplished by these cyber-charged nanites that amazed him, it felt exactly like real ice and remained that way while the surrounding air was above freezing. "Of course! That's why the ice on the outside grows back, it's the nanites resuming their programmed state and position," he blurted out.

Once again Mega Man lowered his ear to the ground and did an auditory scan. He figured to go straight to level three and immediately regretted it. The large rumble of machines working caused him to jump up and stumble, having just had his sense of balance, located in his ears like humans, disturbed. He took a moment to sit in the throne and rest while his ears recovered from the blast of noise. Of course he'd also been deafened by the sound and didn't hear the clicking of something on the throne, but he could feel the rumble as the throne and dais slid back to reveal a flight of icy steps leading down into a frozen cavern.

The blue android jumped to his feet and dashed off the dais and onto the floor and finally to the top of the steps. The icy air blew up from the dimness underneath and he shivered, having not prepared his heating systems for it. Mega Man quickly corrected this and taking a few extra minutes to let his ears finish recovering descended into the realm of ice.

----

Now this is more like it, Mega Man thought as he descended into the frigid underground facility. Once again his temperature control systems were a little strained by the immense temperature change and he was registering the temperature to be maybe negative forty degrees Celsius. He could handle the temperature for a while, but now he had to find Lord Cryon and finish this once and for all and then he could go back and see Glace. He was feeling almost impatient to see her again which he found strange.

The ice stairs ended and he walked around a corner to a fork in the path, each frozen corridor leading off somewhere that he couldn't see, but he imagined they would eventually meet up again by Lord Cryon's room. So he used a perfect scientific method to decide which way to go "Eeny meeny miny mo catch a Treble by the toe if he bites you let him go eeny meeny miny mo," Mega Man chanted with his eyes closed and pointing back and forth. He opened his eyes and saw he was pointing right so with a shrug he started down that way.

The hall turned at a right angle to his right and started going back the direction the stairs had come from. Mega Man sliced open the next door he came to when it refused to open for him and was beginning to be surprised at the M-Sabre's power. He figured since it came from Sigma's war effort and designed for ninjas it must've been built for infiltration and battle. The blue android started walking down the hall, sword at the ready in one hand and cannon ready in the other. The lights were dim, but his eyes had already been adjusted to a low-light setting.

At the end of the hall was a doorway which Mega Man swiftly cut open, no longer bothering with trying to open them. He entered into a large room reminiscent of the ones above with tanks and tubes all around, but they seemed newer, bigger and better. They roared with energy and the sound of air being carried through them and after a scan he realized what they were. And as expected the air was filled with giggles and cyber-elves appeared, of all the appearances he'd seen thus far. "The little boy has found our hideout," giggled one.

"Aren't you a nosey child," another chided mockingly.

"You're venting heat out of the tower to keep this level frozen!" Mega Man shouted "To help create the literal city of ice."

"Oh very good little one, but there's something you haven't caught onto yet," another elf giggled.

"What's that!?" Mega Man cried angrily.

"Should we tell him?" one of the cyber-elves asked the group.

"I'm not sure. Does it seem very sporting to just tell him?"

"Of course not!" the entire group responded.

"A game then Blue Bomber, to determine if you are deserving of hearing the truth," the cyber-elf in charge said.

"Your games are not games," Mega Man said with frustration. "Tell me what secret you're keeping from me!"

"Children all love games... and we're all children!" the elves said and the entire mass of them formed into a humanoid shaped around which appeared a body of pure ice at least thirty feet tall. "Now face the ice golem," roared the elves with one altered voice, a deep rumbling one.

Mega Man switched to the Flamethrower, but was forced to quickly dodge a massive fist crashing into the floor. He shot a burst of flame at the massive chunk of ice and it shuddered. He kept up the flame and it burst into a shower of ice shards and a couple cyber-elves flew out to land on the ground or against the wall and sat there dazed. Mega Man switched back to his normal buster and fired a burst at each cyber-elf, destroying its physical form and sending it back to cyberspace.

The blue android turned to the golem with a smirk. "Lost one hand, get ready to lose the rest," he quipped. The golem crouched down and amazingly jumped, and Mega Man dropped to the floor in a slide and stood behind the monster with flamethrower ready. Suddenly several tons of ice smashed into his stomach and he went flying back and smashed into one of the metal pipes and crashed to the ground. He lay there winded and sore all over with chunks of ice falling around him, shaken free from the pipes and landing around him. It was one of those strong, aching pains like a stomach ache and he wasn't sure he'd ever been hit that hard before. Above him the golem approached slowly and with one fist and two legs it was still a threat.

Hunched a little from the pain still pervading his body Mega Man raised his buster and aimed at the head of the golem, concentrated, and fired. To his surprise he shot not a stream of flames, but a great ball of searing flames that smashed into the golem's head and easily shattered it and half of the torso underneath. Cyber-elves scattered into the air and Mega Man quickly sent them all back to cyberspace where they couldn't cause any harm.

Though not really sure if he could duplicate the feat he'd figure he'd bluff his way out. "The rest of you ready to stop and tell me what the big secret is about these cooling systems?" he asked with buster aimed at the remainder of the golem. Even if he couldn't repeat the fireball, he still could use the Flamethrower normally and easily take out the rest of the golem. As he'd hoped though the remainder of the golem shattered and fell apart revealing the remaining elves.

"Okay! We give up!" they cried together.

"What's the secret!?" Mega Man yelled.

"Why what better way to chill the city than its own inhabitants?" they said sadistically. "All workers with equipped ice abilities are held throughout the machine and bound to help keep their city covered in cold."

"And only Lord Cryos has the strength to free them," another elf chimed in cheerfully.

"And he's under our control, and under our control he shall remain! Fire and ice can destroy each other so no matter what you're at a disadvantage!" the elves cackled before returning to cyberspace willingly and leaving Mega Man confused and fuming. To exploit robots like that, to force them into slavery was something he'd once fought against. Humans, robots, and now cyber-elves all should get along. But something had come and converted the cyber-elves into pure evil, a virus and once again he vowed to make that virus pay.

Mega Man sighed and, moving at a quicker pace now, made his way across the room and cut open the doors. He dashed down the next hallway and in the next room he stopped and looked at the long chamber with the pipes and cases of the cooling unit. So clearly the air is not made of nanites, Mega Man thought, so they need machines to manage the air. Some dark cyber-elves appeared, but he merely slashed through them in mid-run and dodged the bolts of ice they hurled at him. He was getting sick of unnecessary fighting and sick of this place. This was going to end and he was going to end it.

At last he saw a hallway leading off the long room to another large ornate pair of doors. He was about to walk towards it when cyber-elves appeared all around him and ready to pelt of with shards of ice; extremely sharp shards of ice. Mega Man swung the M-Sabre around him viciously and was surprised when a crescent of energy shot out and sliced through the cyber-elves' bodies which dispersed into nanites that all scattered into the air. _So there's nanites in the air that are how the elves take corporeal form, _Mega Man thought. He filed that fact to memory and found himself able to repeat the energy crescent on the rest of the elves, cutting through their ice shots and them.

Finally he managed to make his way down the hallway to the large ornate doors and stood before them with blade at the ready. "Lord Cryon!" he called. "Please just come out and let yourself be cured! I know how to get rid of your infection." He stood still for several minutes with the humming of his sword the only sound. Then with a grating sound the doors opened up with darkness revealed beyond. Tentatively Mega Man stepped forwards and through the doorway.

As soon as he set foot beyond the threshold the doors began creaking again and closed behind him. Lights lit up to reveal a room similar to the one above, only this one was covered in ice and there was a trench all the way around the perimeter at the bottom of which were sharp spikes of ice and steel. Mega Man gulped as he saw them. Spikes he often considered his biggest weakness because they could pierce the little holes in his armour and shred him apart though he'd probably self-destruct before he could get that far.

So he moved slowly towards the middle of the room with his blue eyes set firmly on the ice throne on which sat Lord Cryon. As Mega Man had rather been expecting Lord Cryon looked quite a lot like Lord Vulcan and Mega Man felt a pang of loneliness and sadness at being reminded how much he looked like his own brother Proto Man. Cryon had the same height and rusted steel appearance as his brother had when corrupted and even a grating for a mouth. However Cryon's entire body bore a layer of frost and his head was covered in a thin layer of ice with holes for his eyes and mouth from which mist drifted from his positively frozen inside into the warmer by comparison air.

The ice formed a sort of iceberg shape and hung off the bottom of his face to form a beard of icicles. The same kind of iceberg shaped chunks of ice grew from his shoulder plates and formed icicles over the edges of his body. Just like Vulcan there was a diamond-shaped light in his chest on top of which sat the virus core like a glaring red eye. Mega Man swiftly raised his buster to fire at the evil object, but found ice suddenly spring up from the floor and encase his body right up to his neck. "Not so fast boy," Cryos said, his voice deep like his brother's, but icy and cold that sounded like ice scraping together. "You shall not destroy my link to her Dark Majesty. Now I have a question to ask of you."

"Fight it Cryos!" Mega Man shouted. "Your brother is free, don't let the virus keep its victory!"

"Silence yourself boy," Cryos reprimanded. "Now answer me this: when you first entered this city the wolf riders came after you with full fury and almost had you, but suddenly you vanished into thin air. Then you reappeared outside my citadel. How did you accomplish that feat?"

"I'll never tell as long as there's a breath in my body. Cryos please, think! Fight the virus! You're a robot, not a cyber-elf, the virus is designed to affect them not us."

"That will not work. Now answer me. How did you manage to vanish?"

"I told you, I'm never going to tell," Mega Man repeated, and at the same time trying to melt the ice. His plasma was doing nothing and so he had to switch to Flamethrower, which he did and tried to use either of his flame attacks to melt the ice. Unfortunately his buster was frozen over and was effectively useless.

"Don't bother child, a small flame counts for naught against such a vast amount of ice as this. Now once again, where did you go to hide from the wolves? Is there perhaps somewhere disinfected? You will tell me... or harm will come to your friends."

"No! You can't, they gave me their word!" Mega Man cried angrily.

"I assure you that doesn't mean they won't be out of harm's range."

If not for a frozen body Mega Man would've shook with rage and desperation. How could he choose between Glace and the rest of his friends? It was impossible, and yet this evil monster controlling the noble robot in front of him had the cruelty to threaten innocents not even involved in the fight. He hated to see it, cruelty and evil. Both he, and his brother had fought against it and yet it always survived. "Leave my friends alone!" he cried furiously with tears of fury and angst. "You want me and here I am what does it matter that you didn't see me coming?"

"And now we find your weakness. The weakness of love; it drives those afflicted with it to extreme and foolish lengths often making idle threats or pointless arguments."

"It's not a weakness," Mega Man shouted. "Caring for something gives me the strength to keep fighting. And I'll fight you virus no matter what it takes, and I'll remove your dark grasp on this paradise!" He felt his body suddenly surge with energy to the point it was almost painful. He moved to raise his arms and the energy exploded outwards in a burst of flame that shattered the ice and left him standing with gun ready and panting from the large amount of energy just used. Mega Man had absolutely no idea where all these new abilities were coming from, but he resolved to figure it out later.

Cryos stood from his throne and grabbed up a large ice pick covered with frost. "Very well, it seems I will have to teach you respect." He swung his ice pick down hard into the icy floor and a line of icicles sprang up quickly moving towards Mega Man who rolled aside only to have to slide to avoid a stream of ice shot from the gun on Cryos arm. The slide sent him sliding across the ice though and his heart raced as he slid near the edge and managed to only barely avoid sliding right off.

Quickly moving away from the edge he aimed and fired a blast of flame at Cryos only to have it blocked by a wall of icicles that formed in front of the infected robot. The flames destroyed the icicles, but failed to touch Cryos who chuckled darkly. "Fire and ice are opposites of each other and thus cancel each other out. Besides what can your tiny flame do to one as mighty as I?"

Mega Man moved around Cryos waiting for an opening, but speaking to keep him distracted. "I don't need to do anything to your body," he said with sword in hand "I just need a single strike!" he cried and dashed forwards, jumping as he did so and aimed the M-Sabre right at the red orb. The next thing that happened was so sudden he barely knew what had happened. Cryos raised a wall of ice that Mega Man had been ready to slice apart only to have the ice pick come smashing into him and sending him flying across the ice and right over the edge.

He jabbed his sword into the edge of the platform, the blade screeching a little as it jammed into steel and stalling his fall about a meter and a half from the top of the ledge. Mega Man's heart raced with how close to death he'd come, and after a moment he gasped as a sharp pain raced through his side. Hanging with only one hand he looked down to see a large gash cutting through his armour and skin below. Synthetic blood stained the clean orange of the woven titanium alloy. The tip of the pick had found one of the miniscule holes in the weave and torn it right open.

Above him Lord Cryos appeared and aimed his cannon downwards. "Ready to tell me where you vanished to?"

"Never!" Mega Man cried and with every ounce of energy he had raised his buster overhead and fired a miniature fireball straight at the orb on Cryos' chest. It shattered in a burst of red sparkles and dissolved away. Like Vulcan, the rust fell off of Cryos revealing a robot of light blue and white as the frost coming from him lessened considerably and his eyes returned to normal. Mega Man smiled at the sight of this and his armour changed back to blue, though it did nothing for the blood still pouring onto it. He felt his grip slipping and was about to cry out when he felt a large hand grab his wrist and haul him up. He was laid down gently on an ice floor that quickly reverted to steel with a thin ice covering and the hilt of the M-Sabre was set down next to him.

"Thank you, Forebearer," Cryos said in a much kinder voice, more like mountain snowfall now. "Now relax and I shall take you to somewhere that you can rest." The last thing Mega Man did before consciousness faded from him was deactivate his armour. With that done he drifted off into peaceful darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Dr. Lumin sighed sadly with his chin in his hands. "I should never have let him go," he murmured to Edward on a chair beside him. They were in the living room waiting for Jalon's, Justin's and the twins' parents to come over. The adults in question had reported their children missing and Dr. Lumin, knowing their relation to Mega Man had a good idea where they'd gone. So he'd stepped in and invited them over to explain. It was already pure anxiety to have his newly adopted son go into such danger, but now it seemed four other kids had gone with him and it was his fault for letting even Mega Man go.

"How could you stop him? You gave him the freedom to 'choose his own fate'," Edward said diplomatically. "Even without the mental upgrade he was still free to choose whether or not to fight. I don't think even Dr. Light himself could've done anything."

Adam sighed sadly. "Yes you're probably right Ed, as usual. But still... I just hope he comes home in one piece. My son went into battle, and I can't protect him."

Ed couldn't help but grin, "Honestly Adam, I think he's better at protecting you. He's not just an ordinary kid; he's a robot and a warrior. I'm not going to say he's not out of danger, but he knows it's dangerous and he's prepared to deal with it. I'm worried about him too, but don't forget he's incredibly powerful."

"Yeah..." Adam said, not sounding entirely convinced. But Ed knew it was part of being a father and Adam had every right to be worried. Plus four human kids were in great danger now because they were friends with Mega Man, but that wasn't his friend's fault or anyone's really beyond the kid's themselves.

Dr. Lumin on the other hand was not able to do anything to lessen the worried knot in his stomach. He'd been working on the teleporter with every waking hour so that his adopted son would become only a button press away. The only problem was he'd either need to install Mega Man with a new teleportation link, or make the teleporter match the one already installed. But both actually required the boy robot to actually make work, so for now he was separated from his foster son by a several hour flight and thousands of feet of steel and stone.

The doorbell rang and Adam's heart sank. "This is going to be rough," he sighed. "Glad you could come over for moral support."

"They won't blame you," Edward said. "Once you explain the situation they'll understand."

"I hope so," Adam murmured and went to answer the door.

-----

Rock opened his eyes slowly and looked up to the white ceiling overhead. He was lying on a soft bed and wearing his normal clothes, and there was a dull pain in his side over which he felt some bandages. He quickly ran a systems check and came back with the results of a large, but fairly shallow gash that was in already about half-finished repairing. He'd need to find an energy source to help him heal faster. Anything from food to sunlight would work.

Sitting up and wincing a little Rock saw that he was in a bedroom somewhere in the ice city, judging by the view from the window at the foot of his bed. The blizzard had become a light snowfall and the snow on the ground had lessened considerably. He smiled at the sight of another level freed and cured and happily got out of bed and went to see if there was anyone else in the house. No sooner had he set foot out of the room than he saw Glace run up and embrace him warmly for a moment.

"How long have I been out?" Rock asked, trying to hide his enjoyment of the moment out of embarrassment.

"About fourteen hours," Glace answered. "You were mostly just exhausted, not just from the wound, but in general. You'd already been awake for about a day and a half if I calculated correctly." Rock checked his internal clock and nodded affirmatively; he'd been on this mission for about two days now and he still had so much more to go.

"How's Lord Cryon?" Rock asked, walking with Glace down the soft, carpeted stairs.

"Fine, he's been working on freeing the rest of the citizens here and made a lot of progress. He hasn't got to turning them back to normal yet, but he's restored the city and is freeing them by the hundreds."

"That's good," Rock said with a smile. "I need to get this thing healed so I can get back to work," he added, gesturing at the wound.

"Yeah I know," Glace said somewhat sadly. "Lord Cryon found some spare energy pellets in the factory and gave them to me for you to use when you woke up."

"Why didn't you give them to me while I was out?" Rock asked.

"I wanted to let you rest, and I wasn't sure if they'd work or not."

Rock sat on the couch downstairs while Glace went to grab the pellets. The more time he spent with the girl the more he liked her and couldn't stand to be away from her. She was so pretty and smart, and kind. The fact she could build that anti-virus emitter was testament to her intelligence and he still admired her for having managed to make that. He still didn't understand why he felt so nervous and hot when she was around. It didn't exactly feel half-bad that happy sickness, but he wanted to know what it was.

Glace came back with the familiar force-field encased spheres of energy topped on the bottom and top by small grey cylinders. Rock grabbed the largest of the three energy pellets and found that they were indeed compatible with him, as he'd expected. The energy quickly flowed out and into him as the force field shrank until the grey cylinders were touching with nothing in between them. He felt the wound knit together and an analysis showed he was now eighty-five percent healed. Rock absorbed the other two pellets which brought him up to a hundred percent and he gave a broad smile. "All done. Could you help me take the bandages off?" he asked.

"Of course." Glace moved around back and found where the bandages had been fastened and the white linen came off quickly between the two of them to show nothing but tanned skin underneath, there was no sign of any wound ever existing. "It's a shame humans can't be healed so easily," Glace mused sadly.

The mention of humans reminded Rock of his friend's situation and he jumped up suddenly, turning into Mega Man again in the blink of an eye. "I can't believe I forgot! I have to get going."

"Let me come with you to the elevator," Glace said, following him.

"Okay!" Mega Man said enthusiastically. He'd been just about to ask her to do just that and was pleased that she beat him to the punch. It meant she liked spending time with him too. Scout of course joined them and the three made their way through the snowy streets.

As they walked they chatted and got to know more about each other. Mega Man found Glace was as much a sports fan as he was, and even had a thing for soccer. She also liked animals, having always wanted to see real animals and not robotic ones. Mega Man made a mental note to bring her to New Metro Zoo when this was all over. He didn't want to ask her to leave Neo Arcadia until after they were done; he figured it was a question she'd answer better in a peaceful world.

"I imagine you like anything science or technology related, right?" Glace asked after a while of happy silence.

"Yeah I do," Mega Man admitted with a grin "Tinkering is fun. You know I once built a little race car for myself. It was called the Rush Roadster and it was actually made with the help of Rush." He spent the next little while explaining to her how he and Rush and collaborated to temporarily add a car mode to Rush for a big racing event called the Junior Races. Mega Man felt all the more joyous to see Glace was actually interested. Extremely interested in fact and asked him about certain things he'd forgotten. Their talk moved away from the race car to other projects they'd worked on, and other technological marvels that had come into the world, even themselves.

"Oh by the way did you manage to copy Lord Cryon's Frosthrower?" Glace asked. In response Mega Man morphed his arm into his buster and shot a stream of frost into the air.

"Just being used once is all it takes for me to copy it," he explained quickly. Not long after that they came to the elevator and Mega Man looked up at it with sadness in his heart. Now he was going to leave Glace again and he just didn't want to do it. "Please come with me Glace," he said at last, looking at her hopefully. He was vaguely surprised to see she too was looking sad at the prospect of his leaving.

"I... I really want to Mega Man, but... it's dangerous and if they get me then I'll be separated from you by force. At least here I'm safe," she explained sadly. Even when she was sad Mega Man thought she was extremely pretty. He couldn't figure out why he wanted her to come into danger with him. He just wanted to be with her as much as possible.

"And I have a solution," came the voice of Lord Cryon who appeared in a flash of light holding a conical shaped device.

"The anti-virus emitter!" Glace said, taking the small machine. "Of course! Mega Man I can make a safe base for you at one location. That way not only will you have a place to rest, but when you find your friends they can stay safe in the same spot also."

"Why can't you come with me and we use it as a shield?" Mega Man asked.

"It only works when stationary," Glace explained quickly.

"Alright, then let's get goin'!" Mega Man said happily and the two dashed onto the elevator and waved good-bye to Lord Cryon as it carried them up and away from the snow and cold and to the world of electricity.

----

"So why do you want to talk to X anyways?" Glace asked as the elevator carried them up the last few feet.

"It's Sigma. He's returned somehow and I want to see if X can tell me anything useful. We don't know where Sigma is or any ideas on his strategies. Only X and Zero know Sigma well enough to give me advice and since Zero's dead I have only X as an option," Mega Man explained, his tone becoming rather serious "The echoes of one war were bad enough! Now I have to fight another one just to try and get some advice!" Furiously he drove his blue fist into a building beside the elevator as they stepped off.

Mega Man felt Glace gently laid her hands on his shoulders. "I know it's horrible to have to be fighting all the time. But just think, this whole place will be completely restored once you cure the Mother Elf," she explained softly.

"That's good to know," Mega Man said much more calmly. He wasn't an angry person at heart, and Glace made his frustrations melt away entirely. Just thinking about her made him cheer up. Maybe, he thought, maybe because if I'd had a different life I wouldn't have met her. With his spirits heightened again he and Glace looked at the city which was altered differently to the previous ones. Here great metal spires bristling with electricity rose to a dark, swirling thundercloud from which lightning arced across the sky and to the spires from which they arced back and forth. Altogether they formed what was essentially a net of electricity all across the city, but so far only above the buildings.

Now he looked he noticed many of the buildings were broken and charred, meaning the electricity could reach the ground. The two androids found a building that was still mostly intact and inside Glace set down the conical gadget and pressed a button at its base. It crackled for a moment before a bubble of blue-white energy expanded from the top outwards and eventually encasing the two of them in a cleansed safe area. "So let me guess, because the cyber-elves' physical bodies are made of nanites they just fall apart in the field because it nullifies the virus," Mega Man said.

"Yup," Glace answered. She laughed as Mega Man gave a rather cocky grin which he quickly exaggerated based on a look he'd once seen Base use. Getting back on topic she explained the cyber-elves further "They can take incorporeal forms and fuse with a robot if that robot allows it, but Neo Arcadia doesn't have the power to allow them to take corporeal forms on their own. Not anymore anyways."

"They used to?" Mega Man asked as Glace sat on an old, squishy chair with Scout beside her.

"Back in the old days before Dr. Weil decimated this city. We realized in rebuilding that without rebuilding Heaven we'd be unable to generate the power to allow cyber-elves to take physical forms, so we improvised by using nanites instead."

"Sounds like a good idea actually. But..." Mega Man said trailing off "Do you think there'd be a way to somehow take X out of Neo Arcadia, just for a while? Or for him to communicate with us when we leave?"

Glace shook her head with a sigh "I don't know. Guess we'll find out when we find him."

Mega Man nodded in agreement and took a seat next to the female android. "Um Glace I..." he started to say, but found his voice choking up. He knew what he wanted to say, or maybe he didn't, there were a lot of things he wanted to say to her and he couldn't bring himself to say them. He didn't know why, they were just questions, but he just felt like his throat closed when he tried to say them. Instead he embraced her fondly and she returned the gesture "I want you to take care of yourself okay?" he said at last.

"I've done so for fifty years Mega Man, don't worry about me. You just find the power plant and go get 'em," Glace replied as they separated. Mega Man grinned and ran out the door and out of the field. His heart was racing and he filled like he was brimming with joy and happiness, and yet he still couldn't explain why.

---

It wasn't long before Mega Man found out there were more threats than just the lightning spires as far as environmental hazards goes. There were several nodes in cracks in the road and in walls which shot huge arcs of electricity out of them. He almost lost his foot when this first happened and pulled back just in the nick of time. Of course cyber-elves appeared, their forms crackling with electricity. By now he had gotten quite good at taking them out and swiftly dealt with each group that appeared.

In fact this level was probably the easiest so far and so Mega Man had to wonder what exactly the Dark Twins had planned for him. He got his answer soon enough as he came to a crossroads. In a bright flash of electricity a number of small crackling cyber-elves appeared, floating around another Guardian. This one much different to the ones he'd seen previously, with a body like a half-snake/half-man. He had a sharp, angular snake-like head with crackling blue-white eyes and three prongs shaped like lightning bolts at the back of his head. Similar shaped prongs came from his shoulder armour while from his waist came a vaguely translucent snake body that glowed with electricity and split into two tails. Between the two tail tips jumped crackling electricity.

"Let me guess, Lord Spark?" Mega Man asked cheekily.

"Volt actually, little intruder," the Guardian corrected his eyes flashing with each syllable, but before he could say anything else though Mega Man had shot a bolt of plasma at the red orb on his chest. Mega Man's smirk turned to shock as a barrier of electricity surrounded Lord Volt and absorbed the plasma. "I'm afraid that's not going to work," Lord Volt said with a dark tone in his voice.

"Oh no it won't! He's invulnerable as long as the towers stand!" one of the cyber-elves shouted out joyously, but quickly realized its mistake. With a bright blast of electricity the cyber-elf who had spoken out vanished back to cyberspace. Mega Man took the opportunity to jump onto a nearby building and down into the street, making for the closest spire. By the time Lord Volt turned his attentions to the android he'd already made good distance. Silently Mega Man thanked the big mouthed cyber-elf. But now he had to concentrate on running.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Mega Man pushed his powerful legs as hard as he could. Elec Man's voice rung in his head; another memory of the days of peace, "Listen big brother, or little big brother, electricity is fast, and quick-witted, but most of all it's persistent in an almost artistic way. Quite like me, a shining quick-witted artist." At the time Mega Man had laughed at Elec Men, he figured he was being his typical slightly narcissistic self and all the Robot Masters had gotten used to it and simply laughed it off. Now though he realized it had been advice.

Looking over his shoulder Mega Man saw the Guardian had vanished, but he could just vaguely sense electricity in the air in high amounts. Lord Volt was following him definitely, but he just couldn't see him. In front of him though the metal spire rose high above and it wasn't long before he was standing at the base of the great tower of metal. The problem became pretty obvious right there; how was he going to bring down a tower? And how was he going to bring down a tower before Lord Volt caught up to him.

Quickly he started walking around the tower, looking for a weakness. There was nothing though. He couldn't see anything that would help him destroy the tower. He tried his buster, the M-Sabre, the Buster Blade, and charged shots of all three kinds of weapons. None of them worked, though a scan showed the fire and ice had vaguely weakened the metal. Not enough for him to break through.

He felt a tingling rush across his skin as electricity built in the air. Mega Man whirled around to see Lord Volt slithering towards him at such a pace he seemed like a living lightning bolt. Frantically Mega Man fired shot after shot, but the shield of electricity just absorbed the shots. He switched to the Frosthrower, his armour changing to icy blue, and fired a powerful concentrated blast of cold that froze the air and formed a thick wall of ice. He was surprised to find he had the power to actually do this, but decided to worry about it later. There was a loud crunch as Lord Volt smashed head first into the wall of ice, cracking it and knocking himself unconscious. "Great speed means an inability to turn," Mega Man mused and returned to the tower. He only had a few minutes until the Guardian became conscious again.

Glancing upwards the Blue Bomber saw an opening high up near the top. So the towers have insides, he thought, that means I can take them out from within. "But how do I get up, I can't jump that high... it must've been built so only electric-based cyber elves and Volt could get in."

"Mega Man..." whispered a voice from the air. The boy android jumped almost a foot in the air and looked around frantically, his heart beating a mile a minute.

"Who said that!?" he cried, as a fuzzy, barely visible figure appeared from the air. It was about a foot taller than him and blue, but that was all he could make out.

"Brother..." the figure whispered.

Mega Man's mouth dropped open in shock. "X!? Little brother?" he stuttered.

"Yes... I haven't much time brother, but knocking out the Guardian has temporarily allowed me to partially materialize," X explained quietly and hurriedly, his voice broken up by static. "There is a technique big brother, which will allow you to climb up high walls. It is a technique I used often. It's the wall kick, much like what you already know, but you can gravitate back to the same wall."

"What? No I can't," Mega Man protested.

"I've no time to argue, just trust me, brother. You can do it, and do so quickly, as I can sense the virus regaining control here. It's an extension of your gyroscopic stabilization system, just kick down against the wall so you fly up instead of out."

Mega Man frowned and turned to the great wall of steel. He jumped towards the wall and of course jumped up at least seven feet, but it had been a small jump for him. He pressed a hand against the wall and began to slide down it, but kicked as he'd been told and flew upwards parallel to the wall. He spun in mid-air and landed against the wall another three or four feet higher than before. As he slid down the wall he saw X's vague image beginning to fade. "You'll see me again Rock," the teenager said as he vanished.

"Until next time then, little bro," Mega Man said with a smile and began wall kicking upwards again. He reached the opening just as a crackle of electricity heralded the return to consciousness of Lord Volt.

"You only put yourself in a corner boy!" the Guardian shouted and shot upwards as a bolt of electricity towards the tower entrance. Mega Man created another wall of ice before dashing off down the short corridor until he came to stairs that circled upwards to the right and downwards to the left. He heard a crash as the ice wall broke and quickly decided to head down, his original guess as to the location of the operating equipment.

As fast as his short, but powerful legs could carry him he ran down the stairs and his heart raced. He was afraid, but that wasn't new. He was always afraid during battle and chase and retreat, but he conquered his fear and fought on. He was always willing to do it. No Mega Man's heart was racing because of the intensity of the situation. Adrenaline, or synthetic adrenaline anyways, was pumping and he was filled with energy. His heartbeat was just a side-effect of that.

Behind him he heard the crackling sound of electricity and placed ice walls behind him to slow Lord Volt down. However a sound like weak thunder echoed down the stairs and Mega Man knew that Volt had grown wise to the trick and was now shattering the ice. Still it did slow him down, so the blue android wasn't complaining. He jumped the last few steps and slid on the hard plastic floor and quickly placed a wall of ice in the stairs exit.

The room was long and curved around the circular pillar around which was built the stairs. This room though seemed to serve no purpose other than storage though. He moved quickly so as to keep ahead of Lord Volt should he come storming in. There were wires, boxes of steel bars and various other construction paraphernalia. At length he came to a small door and opened it just as he heard a loud crash of shattering ice.

The room beyond the small door was similar to the other one. However this room lacked any other objects, but had rows and rows of metal tubes lining the walls. The tubes weren't large, only about five and a half feet tall, and were held by holders on the floor. Despite the quite furious Guardian following him, Mega Man's curiosity got the better of him. Walking over to a tube and looking it over he saw it was actually more of a pod. There was a framework cradling the wide cylinders which were bare of framework at the front.

On further inspection he noticed a simple keypad along the side of the pod and a small plasma screen above the buttons. Pressing one of the buttons brought up a reading on the screen saying 'inspect contents – press OK to confirm'. Noticing a green button with 'OK' written on it he pressed the button and the top part of the pod slid out of the way to reveal a human face. Mega Man scanned and found this was indeed a reploid, as he'd been guessing.

The reploid in question looked about fourteen in design and male, with electric blue hair and a yellow uniform that seemed to be work based. Mega Man more closely inspected the strange liquid that the teenaged reploid was floating in, kept in place by a basic force field. A scan revealed the liquid to be a conducting agent for electricity, almost like a type of battery acid. At that moment Lord Volt burst into the room, rather explosively with a whirl of electricity. "Ah so you found my secret power source," Lord Volt said with a slight sneer.

"This is... horrible," Mega Man said distantly, still stunned by the horror; rounding up an entire race to be used as fuel and power, slowly killing them in the process while they'd sit asleep and feel the pain even in their dreams. "How could you do this to your own people!?" he cried tearfully. "You're torturing and killing them for power? You can't have succumbed that much to the virus!"

"It is too powerful to overcome; it consumed the minds of the guardians and took over. After all what are robots if not tools? Tools to be used by those with power!" As Lord Volt spoke his voice seemed to change a bit to something darker and hollower. Yet when he next spoke it was the same buzzing voice as before. "You are too powerful to be simply destroyed, the Dark Queen will have fun converting you into a true weapon of war!"

"You have to catch me first," Mega Man replied defiantly. He whipped forwards two mega busters and shot a massive blast of charged plasma at the robot and bolted down the hallway with his heart racing from the exertion of using both arm cannons at once. It was rare that he ever did something like that and most of his systems were protesting against such exertion so close together. He knew he needed a quick rest, preferably in the sun, but he didn't have time.

As if answering him and too his great delight he saw ahead of him a door of metal beside which was a keypad with up and down arrow buttons. Yes, an elevator, he thought thankfully. He put on a little more speed and made it just as he heard the sound of electricity start up behind him. Panting and his fingers shaking from exhaustion and angst he pressed the up arrow button and waited for what seemed an eternity as behind him an electrical torment came rushing towards him.

Just as Mega Man was beginning to wonder if the elevator was even working the doors opened up and he dashed in and pressed a button that would bring him to the top of the tower. He saw Lord Volt powering towards him, but the doors were closing, and the elevator was lined with rubber. Just before the doors closed Mega Man stuck out his tongue at the robot and laughed at the sound of Lord Volt _again _crashing into a wall.

Now safe for the time being, the blue android collapsed against the wall of the elevator and took several deep breaths. The lights in the elevator also provided some help in restoring his energy levels. It wasn't great, but he could still use the light as a power source. When the elevator came to a stop Mega Man was rested enough to jump to his feet and run out onto the top floor. He had exited right into the control room.

The various control devices spread out to both his left and right and seemed to circle the entire room. The elevator, he realized, went up inside the central column around which the rest of the tower was built. He was surprised by the number of controls he could see, but on inspection he saw a lot of them had to do with the tower's connection to the power grid, the other towers, and so on. "I can't just turn the tower off," he mumbled to himself "I have to make it unable to turn back on."

He walked around the control room, making sure to shut and freeze over the hatch on the floor to the stairs, and tried to find controls to stop the tower from working period. Most of the controls he looked over connected the tower to other towers, and indeed these controls had a window in front that looked out to another tower in the distance. Seeing nothing that would cause a self-destruct of the tower he figured there was just one thing left to do: destroy the entire control room.

Before doing that though he inspected a holographic map of the towers. Apparently there were six of them forming a hexagonal shape across the city, and one in the middle. He tapped the image of the middle tower and the hologram zoomed in on it as information appeared beside it. He scrolled through it, scanning the information so as to save it as quickly as possible. "So," he said to himself when done scanning "The central tower controls the rest and shutting it down means I'll shut the rest down too."

By now he could hear a hum of incoming electricity and so Mega Man resolved to destroy the control room for this tower to at least slow down Lord Volt. The energy charged up in his arm cannon, and his armour changed to the frosty blue colour. Then he fired and all the controls in front of him were frozen by a massive blast of cold. He switched to the flamethrower and charged it. "Alright, gonna do this Bass style," he quipped with a grin and shot a massive fireball from his arm cannon that ploughed through the frozen controls. He whirled and performed the same combination with the other controls.

He hurried around the control room blasting, punching, and kicking the controls until they were pretty much torn apart. Surveying the destruction Mega Man was surprised and slightly frightened to see the destruction he'd caused. The room was devastated, and it looked like something far more deadly than a robotic boy had been through it. With that done he smashed a nearby window and jumped out, sliding down the wall of the tower until he could jump to the roof of a nearby building.

As the Blue Bomber made his way across the rooftops, and eventually through the streets, he noticed that the tower he had damaged was actually starting to emit electricity again. This surprised him, but he guessed that since everything here could control electricity, particularly Lord Volt, that he must've somehow reactivated the tower. A feeling of dread washed over him as he hoped that more reploids hadn't been put into place to try and keep the tower working. With that even a possibility he pushed himself all the more to reach the central tower.

Of course this journey wasn't enemy free, and Mega Man hadn't expected it to be. At every corner, rooftop and street there were cyber-elves of all the forms he'd seen. Some were riding on what seemed to be birds made of electricity, others free floating and firing bolts of electricity and even some mechaniloids shaped like miniature airplanes mixed with birds. In addition to the airborne enemies there were ground soldiers looking like half-human/half-snakes similar to Lord Volt, but electric blue in colour with yellow armour plates. In addition their heads consisted of simply a large red eye where a face would be inside the helmet.

_Recently downloaded historical records say the ground troops are a form of Pantheon, one of the police force of old Neo Arcadia,_ Mega Man thought internally as his scans came back. After fighting waves of the elves and robots he'd come to a building overlooking the massive central square from the middle of which rose the tower. However surrounding the tower was probably two hundred robots, and cyber-elves. That meant he was really starting to draw attention to himself, if the Dark Queen was allowing troops to come to the aid of one of her minions. That however raised a question in Mega Man's mind: why did she have an army ready in the first place? He also managed to come up with several answers, none of them pleasant.

Seeing no possible way past the troops from where he was Mega Man dropped to the streets and decided to try and find a spot from which he could perhaps ambush them, or maybe make some kind of guerrilla strike. He was so deep in thought coming up with a battle plan that he didn't hear the sound of several of the snake Pantheons sliding up behind him, but was shocked back to his senses by a bolt of electricity to the back.

That was something he hadn't felt for a while, electricity coursing through his body, and he'd forgotten how much it hurt. His synthetic nerves seized up for a moment, but rather abruptly he felt like the electricity was being sucked away. "That's unusual," he murmured "Usually it just dissipates while the recovery shield activates, but that felt like I absorbed it." Getting to his feet he raised his buster to fire, only to see bolts of plasma strike the mavericks from behind and for them to crackle and collapse to the ground. There behind them was someone Mega Man couldn't believe he was seeing. "Hub?" he asked.

The android dashed forwards and saw it was definitely his friend, but dressed not in civilian clothes, but some kind of battle suit. He wore a navy blue body suit with a cyan stripe along the side. Covering this was royal blue vest of some kind of polymerized armour that he wore open. On his shoulders were long, close fitting yellow shoulder plates and around his hands were blue gauntlets with a white knuckle-guard and yellow trim. Hub even had armour around his waist, wearing a white multi-section armoured jockstrap, essentially. Mega Man had always thought they looked kind silly, but Hub made it cool and his own pelvic armour looked like underwear. Hub also wore white thigh plates and blue armoured boots. To finish it off he had a blue helmet like Mega Man's, only with a white ridge around the opening and a pair of ridges forming a v-shape as they went up his helmet from the center of the top of the opening and yellow squares in a pattern down the middle like Mega Man's own.

"Mega Man! I'm so happy I found you! Have you found any of the others?"

Mega Man shook his head "How'd you escape? And what's with all this?" he asked, gesturing to the armour.

Hub looked down at himself and grinned "Well it's kind of a long story, but it's pretty cool! Now I can help you out."

"I don't need help," Mega Man spat. He was furious, this was his job, nobody else was supposed to endanger themselves. And yet now one of his friends had found a way to be able to fight too, and possibly get themselves killed. At the same time he was happy that he had someone else to fight alongside him and at least Hub could now take care of himself if they came to danger. These two sides of the argument warred against each other in his head even as Hub responded to his friend's sudden anger.

"I saw the army around that tower Mega Man; you'll need a little help."

There was silence for a time as the android tried to decide on what to do. "The best help you can give is to stay out of my way," Mega Man hissed at last and turned on his heel. Hub's expression dropped at this rather hurtful comment as Mega Man walked away.

----

Mega Man walked in silence, he'd been fighting and moving along for about a half hour now and knew full well that Hub was following him. Guilt was eating at him, for he'd never treated a friend that way. In fact he wasn't sure he'd ever treated anyone that way. But he didn't want his friends getting hurt. He'd told nobody, but the realization that he was cursed with immortality had made him feel so lonely and spread thin. He didn't want his heart to be broken again when someone else died while he lived on.

Yet he couldn't help but remember a day he once had with his older brother Proto Man. As always whenever Proto Man came around they would spend the day hanging out, partly because Proto Man refused to go near Dr. Light. They'd started a little battle practice, which had turned into more of a game of laser tag, with their busters set to cause only a weak shock. Eventually they'd got ice cream and sat on a bench at the beach as they watched the sunset. "Little brother..." he started, sounding so much older than his young teen voice suggested "I've been thinking a lot, about how we treat each other, and how we treat the rest of our family..."

"What're you talking about Proto Man?" Mega Man had asked.

"Your compassion, your ability to forgive others, and your kindness to humans despite how horrible they can sometimes be. These traits make you a better person than me. I hold onto grudges, and I still can't bring myself to forgive Dr. Light for activating me the way he did. It's a weakness of mine, having too small a heart."

"But you were designed to fight, you're much stronger than me," Mega Man protested.

"Perhaps I am now, but I tend to destroy my opponents and I've tried to stop myself, but I don't have that resolve. Your compassion has allowed all the Robot Masters you've defeated to be restored or reborn as better people, and think of all the friends you have. Don't ever forget your kindness, your compassion, or your friends... those traits are your greatest strengths."

Mega Man's face darkened at the memory. "Yeah well you were wrong big brother. Friends will wither and die and kindness will always lead to despair and hopelessness. My fights secured nothing but a continued war between robots and humans, people have died and robots have been shut down permanently. Dr. Light is dead, and so will the kids in time, and I'll live on, or pass into darkness."

So _that's_ what you're worried about," Hub said, dropping to the ground in front of his friend.

"Oh yeah you've been following me," Mega Man said with almost as much emotion as a Met.

"You're lonely and yet you're afraid to get close to anybody human because you don't want to have your heartbroken. Where's the logic there?" Hub asked.

Mega Man was silent and looked away into the distance, thinking. The logic was staying at one emotion instead of riding an emotional roller coaster. That was his logic anyways, but it cutting himself off from humans... true he always had Glace as a friend. She was a robot, and an old one, yet what good was it living with anyone if the world was ruled by a cruel tyrant like Sigma? The best information on Sigma was held by X, and he'd only be able to materialize properly once Neo Arcadia was returned to normal. "Okay, you can fight with me. But you must do exactly what I tell you, is that clear?"

Hub nodded with a serious look on his face. "I understand. And I know fighting is serious business, but if it's true that Sigma's returned than your brother's the best hope we have."

Mega Man nodded and gestured for Hub to follow him. They moved a little further around the central square and hopped up onto a tall building on which they also had some cover. The two surveyed the army and as could easily be expected the bulk of the forces were hording around the tower's base, with cyber-elves in the sky as that was where the entrance was. "So what can that suit do?" Mega Man asked.

"To be honest I think it's based on you and X to an extent. I can make a buster or sword appear around my hand connected to this power pack here," Hub explained, and pointing to a small, flat, blue box with a large node on each side.

Mega Man turned back to the army below. "Any ideas then? I was thinking we could try to shoot down the elves from the rooftops, but in all honesty they're probably the easy part."

"I could lead them off through the streets," Hub suggested, "empty the courtyard and give you easier access to the tower. And while they're going around through the streets you can handle the stragglers."

"That's too risky. You could get caught," Mega Man said instantly. Although maybe it could work with some modifications, he didn't want to risk his friend's life like that.

"My brother's Lan, one of the most hyper and sneaky kids in New Metro, and I have to keep up with him. A bunch of robots aren't going to catch me."

Mega Man took a deep breath and removed his helmet to run a hand through his hair. "Okay, but I have some changes I'm going to make. Instead of just you, we force them to split up and take out what we can as they chase us, lose them, and rendezvous back at the courtyard and head into the tower. We head up the tower, take it out, then find Lord Volt and set him straight."

"Who's Lord Volt?" Hub asked.

"Guy in charge of this level, you'll see. We destroy that tower than his electric shield will be disabled and then we attack this red orb on his chest and when it's destroyed he'll return to normal," Mega Man explained quickly. They hopped down from the rooftop and prepared to set their plan in motion, but first Mega Man made sure to teach his friend the wall kick. The suit seemed to give Hub all the physical enhancements that he himself had, and as Mega Man had guessed, Hub was able to pull off the wall kick. He was beginning to wonder if the suit could copy abilities as well.

"Let's do this! Sigma could be bearing down on the RSA and Grand Metropolis as we speak. We have no time to lose," Hub said.

"Yes, now let's go," Mega Man finished and led Hub to the nearest road into the square. They each charged up their buster and stood against the wall out of sight. When their busters were charged fully they both dashed out into the open and fired right into the thick of the Pantheons. As expected the soldiers surged forwards and the two friends dashed back into the maze of streets and prepared for the chase.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Mega Man watched Hub dash down the streets before himself turning to run down the opposite street. They both paused at the end s as the robots swarmed out and looked in both directions before indeed splitting up. In almost a blink of an eye Hub had vanished, which surprised Mega Man quite a lot, but he had his own problems to attend to as the army surged towards him. He sprayed the ground with the Frosthrower behind him as he ran; creating a stretch of ice on the road that caught some of the Pantheons by surprise. As they slipped around Mega Man fired back at the stumbling ones and they collapsed before making a small explosion and falling to pieces. "So one hundred robots following me, three down, ninety-seven left," Mega Man murmured as he hurried away and around a corner.

He had to lose them, but keep them looking for him. Looking over his shoulder he could see the army still had him in sight, and so he dashed down a nearby alley which came to a dead end. The Pantheons approached the corner and five of them broke off to slither down the alley and attack him. Having an idea Mega Man made a face at them, "Come and get me! Does that huge eye take away from your brain? Come on!" The Electro Pantheons, as Mega Man decided to call them, sped up as Mega Man prepared to jump. They charged their arm cannons with crackling electricity, but just as they reached firing distance the Blue Bomber sprayed a layer of ice across the ground right up to the wall behind him and around the bases of the mavericks to keep them still. He jumped to the wall then over their heads, landing behind them where kicked the five of them in the back, breaking them from the ice holding them, but sending them sliding towards the wall. Mega Man finished off this combo with a charged plasma bolt, thus destroying them.

The rest of the Pantheons surged forwards, but Mega Man created a wall of ice and jumped onto the building nearby. He noticed gratefully that the cyber-elves were nowhere in sight, meaning they were back guarding the tower. After jumping several rooftops and dropping into the streets again he leaned around a corner and saw the Pantheons splitting up to find him. "That's what I was waiting for," he mumbled confidently "Show time!"

---

Hub on the other hand had already lost his pursuers, and had already watched them split up to search for him. His success was thanks to this short range teleport he'd discovered. Though it took a while for the thing to recharge, it was still helpful. He'd found a nice little niche in a building at the edge of a street and was staying hidden in the shadows. A trio of Pantheons slithered by and completely ignored the small area. As soon as their backs were to him he leapt out with energy blade activated and sliced through all three. They sparked and collapsed into a pile of scrap metal. "Cyber-sword, I'm calling this a cyber-sword," Hub said out loud before jumping up to the rooftops.

After a couple more Pantheon squad take-downs he collapsed on the roof of an apartment building and sighed sadly. He'd never been away from Lan this long in his life and he was beginning to realize how much he took his brother's presence for granted. Now without Lan around Hub was feeling almost like he'd had part of himself cut off, and yet some part of him knew that Lan was still okay. He hadn't mentioned any of this to Mega Man, but then again Mega Man didn't seem like he wanted them around.

With a sigh Hub got moving again. Mega Man didn't want them to get hurt, and was feeling lonely in his immortality. It made sense, but it didn't stop his cold attitude from hurting. Especially since he'd been so warm and friendly when they first met him, and to think that had been only a couple days ago. They'd known each other for only a short time and yet they were becoming friends so quickly, even if Mega Man refused to acknowledge it.

With these thoughts Hub got moving again. He'd already given his enemies too much time, but he could catch up. This power suit came with a whole lot of variations on the basic sword and buster combination. The appearance of the suit made him wonder if it was in fact based on Mega Man and his successors and the large amount of weapons was based on that. The left gauntlet had all the options for swords and the right one had all the options for cannons. "Ice cannon?" Hub murmured aloud and pressed the small 'confirm' button. His right gauntlet glowed and changed into a pale blue buster with a more jagged shape that looked like it was carved from ice. "Sweet," he muttered in awe.

After carefully making his way through the alleys and onto the rooftops again he found a group of five Pantheons below. From a hidden position he took aim and fired. A shot of what looked like pure cold shot out, quite quickly, and the moment it struck it froze the five robots solid in a thick layer of ice. Changing back to his normal cannon, this time simply by thinking, and he blasted the frozen robots and they shattered into sparking, broken robot parts.

"Seems like a good combo," Hub whispered and wove his way through the streets and onto the roofs taking out Pantheons wherever he found them. Luckily their patrol groups remained small. He could occasionally see a blue figure in the distance blasting, fighting or jumping and knew that Mega Man was having success as well. That was good, but this was only the third level, there were still nine left after they fixed this one. And there was no telling which ones were where Lan and the others were.

After a while he spotted the groups of Pantheons less frequently, which he took as a sign of their diminished numbers. He was about to head back when he heard twin voices blare into the city, very familiar ones. "Enough!" cried Detruis and Deses together "All remaining soldiers return to guarding the tower immediately! You're being played for fools!"

----

Mega Man paused where he was as he heard the voices of the Dark Twins call across the city. He'd had no clue that they'd been watching that intently, though it was odd that they never called out his plan earlier. Perhaps they'd merely been hoping for their minions to figure it out. Whatever the case he had to get back to the courtyard entrance and he hoped Hub was moving that way too. "Lord Volt! Defend that tower! We cannot afford to lose more ground to this puny robot or his human friends."

"Correction, Hub and I don't just have to get to the tower, but we got to get there quickly," Mega Man said under his breath. And that's what he did. He jumped and ran as fast as he could and also making sure to stay out of the way of the Pantheons returning to their positions, an easy feat considering how their numbers had dropped.

Finally he jumped to the top of the building he and Hub had been observing the army from earlier. Minutes later Hub jumped up from the street and landed beside him. "Have any of those mavericks gotten back yet?" he asked.

"I only just got here, and I haven't seen any," Mega Man responded. As if responding to this comment about fifteen of the mavericks appeared at the ends of the streets. The two friends exchanged determined glances and jumped into the street and began firing. Mega Man changed to the flamethrower and fired several charged shots before switching to the frosthrower and icing the ground in front of the now very hot asphault. He watched with satisfaction as the Pantheons slipped on the ice, but had to jump to the side as bolts of electricity flew his way. "Hub!" he cried as a warning.

Hearing his friend's cry, Hub dropped to the ground as the bolts of electricity flew over his head and struck the other Pantheons. The couple struck started to shake and shiver all over before exploding in a burst of electric sparks. The extra energy had overpowered them and forced them to self-destruct. The two blue-clad warriors jumped to their feet and fired their busters in spreader mode with a flurry of plasma shots flying each way. They backed up to each other and ceased fire for a second before switching sides and firing another spread of plasma shots.

Finally they ceased firing altogether and watched as the mavericks collapsed into sparking piles of burnt and charred metal. The two friends stopped for a second to catch their breath. "You're good," Mega Man said.

"Me and Lan still hold top score at the holo-arcade in Virtual Warfare," Hub panted.

"I was thinking about giving you a codename," Mega Man said "Cyber Man?"

Hub shook his head "We'll work on that later."

"Right, to the tower. Keep an eye out for Lord Volt and keep the elves at bay," Mega Man ordered.

Hub nodded in ascent and the two jumped to the top of the low building nearby. The cyber-elves, who'd previously been milling about in the air, had now formed a spherical cloud around the upper part of the tower where the door was. Not only that, but every elf was staring right at them with a sadistic smile; just daring them to attack, while the bird robots circled around the cloud like one of Saturn's rings. "Any bright ideas?" Hub asked with a nervous tone.

"I might have a couple," Mega Man replied "First tell me what your suit does?"

"Bunch of swords and cannons," Hub said, showing his friend the display showing the options. Mega Man scrolled through the options until finally spotting 'Advance: Beta Sword' on the sword arm and 'Advance: Zeta Cannon' on the cannon one.

"Try these two," Mega Man said and Hub confirmed the two options. His right gauntlet morphed into a large cannon looking sort of like a tank's. The left gauntlet morphed into a rather long and brightly glowing energy sword that flickered with energy.

"Woah, these are cool, kind of heavy though and the suit's energy levels are dropping rather quickly," Hub said, the energy reading given to him by the helmet.

"Then turn them off, you don't need them yet anyways."

Hub returned his gloves to normal and turned to Mega Man expectantly and asked "So, what's the plan?"

"Simple really, we both run in and blast as many as we can, then you go up the tower while I help cover for you, then when you're at the top you give me some cover while I climb. Then I seal off the exit with an ice barricade and we do what we can to destroy the thing."

Hub frowned at his friend's very reckless plan. "_That's _your plan? That's a little risky don't you think? There's far more of them than there are of us. Plus those birds can't be nearly as easy as the elves."

"I like risky," Mega Man said with a grin.

"Is this how you fight all your battles? Just run headlong into enemies and improvise, hoping that plans thought up on the spot will get you through safely?"

Mega Man's grin turned sort of cheeky and mischievous "Of course, it's more fun that way! And it hasn't failed me yet, so come on!"

Hub nodded, partly because he could see Mega Man enjoying his company and wanted to do whatever he could to keep his friend out of his solemn state and enjoying the friends he had now. He also couldn't think of any other plan at the moment and figured the blue bomber's was as good as any.

"On the count of three then... one, two, THREE!" Mega Man shouted and the two charged across the concrete to the massive spire. The cloud of cyber-elves lit up like a massive lightbulb with electricity glowing all across the sphere. Mega Man charged up energy in his buster, his armour changing to orange and red as a sign of what was coming. He waited until the heat was bristling from his buster, dodging bolts of electricity with Hub who was firing his own buster already. Finally he aimed at the center of the cloud and hoped what he was going for would work. "Fire Meteor!" he cried and fired. A massive ball of flame erupted from his cannon, just like in the cooling facility.

Hub took this as his cue and his buster changed to the tank-like cannon they seen before. "Zeta Cannon!" he cried and fired a massive beam of energy towards the swarm of cyber-elves. The two attacks connected right as they entered the swarm and a great _KA-KOOM _echoed across the courtyard and scattered the cloud of cyber-elves along with destroying the bodies of a good number as well. The two sped up and reached the base of the tower, shooting down several more elves as they went.

As soon as they reached the base of the tower Hub began to wall kick his way up it while Mega Man aimed his buster at several of the Electro-Birds as they whirled around to cover for their recovering masters. He charged a bit and fired shards of ice to the birds that froze on their wings and bodies causing them to become too heavy for flight and fall to the ground where they shattered into hundreds of pieces.

Glancing up Mega Man saw Hub was almost at the door, but the cyber-elves were starting to recover and ready to get back on the offensive. He'd need to do something to keep them from getting organized again. Thinking through his options he came up with an idea; fully charge the Frosthrower. He wasn't sure he had enough energy for the Flamethrower, so Frost it was.

He charged up the energy, feeling the power coursing into his arm and the temperature decrease. His buster even began to show frost forming on it. He waited a little longer then raised his buster to the swarm and fired. A massive blast of cold shot out, far bigger than what he'd shot at the controls of the tower. "Arctic Laser!" Mega Man cried and turned through the swarm to freeze as many elves and Electro-Birds as he could before the beam dissipated.

Hub gazed at the falling frozen forms agape, but snapped himself out of it to begin providing cover for Mega Man as he ascended the tower. With the swarm greatly decreased in number Hub simply used his buster to take out any elves that focused on Mega Man. The Blue Bomber reached the door and whirled to seal it off with ice. Hub was staring at him in awe. "First the meteor, now that? I knew you were powerful, but not that powerful," Hub said.

Mega Man shrugged and sighed wearily "Neither did I. I'm not sure where this extra power's coming from," he said, glancing at his palm and making a fist before shaking his head "It's something else we'll work out later. Come on, we've got to destroy the tower and cure Lord Volt."

He led Hub down the hallway to the stairs and together they began to run upwards towards the control room. Mega Man kept listening for the sound of breaking ice, but it never came. Instead there was only the sound of their boots banging against the metal stairs. "There doesn't seem to be anyone following," Hub said, voicing Mega Man's own thoughts.

They reached the top of the stairs and stepped into the control room, and there was no resistance there either, or at least not at first. They took several steps and the windows all around shattered as Electro-Birds crashed through them. Behind them came the still plentiful amount of dark cyber-elves. The two boys had sword and buster at the ready in seconds and were soon fighting back-to-back in the thick of the cyber-elves, Hub surprising himself in his fighting skill. As the numbers started to thin a bit, Mega Man suddenly had an idea.

"Hub, we have to get one of those Electro-Birds," he said abruptly.

"What? Why?" Hub asked, stabbing a cyber-elf with his cybersword.

"Just do it!" Mega Man ordered and Hub dashed forwards and grabbed one of the robots by the tail and threw it to Mega Man before it could shock him. Mega Man in turn dashed to the nearest computer system and smashed the robotic bird into the controls so its beak stuck. It began to charge up electricity and release it into the system "Again!" Mega cried.

They jumped several more Electro-Birds, which squawked and tried to escape, but found themselves pumping electricity into the system. As Mega Man had hoped the tower began to rumble and a red light flashed as an electronic voice warned of an imminent self-destruction. "We did it," Hub said as Mega Man pulled him to the window.

"Yeah, but we got to get going or it's going to blow up with us inside," he said as he slid down the wall and jumped to the ground, letting Hub down when they landed "Sorry about that, but we had to move."

"It's okay," Hub said and the two got to the edge of the square just as the black spire exploded, leaving a jagged foundation behind. "I thought of a name for myself," Hub said abruptly.

"Yeah? What?"

"MegaMan Site, like my middle name; Saito."

"Another Mega Man, I guess that works. Come on! We gotta find Lord Volt, his shield will be gone now, so we can destroy the virus orb."

"Where would he be though?" Hub asked. The answer occurred to them at the same time; the Power Plant. And from their position they could see the large structure past the ruined spire down a short, but wide street. With a nod to each other they ran past the sparking and burning spire and made their way towards the source of the electricity.

----

They didn't have to go far into the Power Plant to find Lord Volt. It seemed he had only just gotten there himself and was in the lobby preparing to retreat deeper into the building. But Mega Man and Site, as Hub now insisted on being called in uniform, had weapons at the ready. "This ends now Volt! Time to release you from the virus' grasp," Mega Man said and fired a charge shot at Volt. Now without his electricity shield he was blasted into a wall, but he'd missed the orb and so it was not destroyed.

"Not yet!" Lord Volt hissed and hurled a crackling blast of electricity at the boys, who both had to jump aside quite fast to avoid the blast, moving in opposite directions. Yet they hadn't stopped for two seconds when twin bolts of electricity shot towards them and they found themselves blasted back against the wall. Mega Man picked himself up off the floor as the electricity faded and whipped out his M-Saber. He glanced over to see Site had sword and buster ready too, ice cannon in fact. Taking that cue, Mega Man switched to the frosthrower.

Lord Volt proved a fast opponent, in fact he seemed faster now without the shield and the two friends found themselves more often on the defensive or evading as bolts of electricity flew at them while he charged up with electricity and used it to move so fast they couldn't possibly manage to hit him. Meanwhile they were just barely avoiding being hit themselves. Finally Site and Mega Man, standing beside each other again after successfully striking Lord Volt and stunning him "Ice seems to work on these electricity guys," Site said.

"Double ice blast, you keep up the ice and I smash the virus orb," Mega Man summarized quickly. They pointed their busters at Volt, charged up, and fired.

"Double Ice Blast!" they cried together and the shots connected, freezing Lord Volt still. Mega Man dashed forwards with M-Saber ready as Site fired steadily to keep Lord Volt frozen. Mega Man drew near and he sliced the energy blade in front of him and slid to a stop behind the Guardian, blade still in the air. Site stopped his shots as the red virus core splintered and exploded into a dozen tiny shards.

The rust on Lord Volt's body fell off and rich, electric yellow and blue appeared from underneath it. The electric storms outside faded and vanished and the massive spires reshaped into power lines. Lord Volt took a deep breath and looked between the two boys. "Thank you," he said "Go and rest, we shall talk properly later."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Mega Man and Site walked back towards where the former had left Glace. It was a bit of a walk, but they made it. Site promised to explain the suit once he'd met Glace, which Mega Man agreed to. So they made their way across town, talking a little while Mega Man happily basked in the rejuvenating rays of the sun. "Do you know what happened to the others Hub?" he asked.

"No, but I hope we find Lan soon. I've never been away from him this long in my life," Site said sullenly.

"We'll find him," Mega Man assured him. No matter if he kept his distance from people or not, he was not letting anyone die. Thinking of the progress they'd be making soon he noted that the weapon data had finished downloading. His armour changed to electric yellow in colour while his helmet, gauntlets, boots and waist changed to electric blue. He fired and an arcing bolt of electricity shot forth.

"So that's your copy ability?" Site asked curiously.

"Yup, so Electric Bolt is now my newest weapon," Mega Man confirmed.

"You just keep getting stronger," said a voice. Mega Man looked up to see Glace standing in front of them. She ran up to the two and gave him a high five.

"You did it again!" she cried happily "You really are as good as everyone said."

"Thanks," Mega Man replied with a smile.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend here?" she asked "And tell me how he managed to acquire one of the Mega Armour suits."

"Oh right, this is one of the humans who came here with me. His name's Hub Saito Hikari, or Mega Man Site in that suit. As for how he got it, well he promised to tell us once we were all together."

Site smiled "He's right, so let's go sit somewhere."

Soon they were sitting on the front porch of one of the houses, Mega Man insisting they find one at least partly in the sunlight so he could continue recharging. "I have a guess as to how you found that suit," Mega Man said "But I'll let you tell the story."

"Thanks. Well after the Twins separated us, they teleported us away and everything went black. When I woke up I was under this dark purple energy bubble, and I waited there I don't know how long. I tried to break out, but it didn't do any good. And there was all this lightning outside, I was kind of glad the prison was there.

"I dunno how long I was there; I think I might've fallen asleep again. But I remember that suddenly the prison vanished and I was free. Then I saw this fuzzy, kind of blue shape that told me to follow him quickly. I did and he showed me this secret room where this suit was and I touched the little circle thing on the vest and suddenly it vanished and reappeared on me. So I just started using it to search for the others."

Mega Man and Glace listened intently to the story, and when Site finished they were silent for a moment. "That shape you said you saw," Mega Man said "Did it look taller than you, like a high schooler?"

"Kind of, wait are you saying...?"

"Yes, that was Mega Man X, he taught me the wall kick."

"X is alive!" Glace cried ecstatically "Then that virus is as good as deleted! If X is alive than we can not only destroy the virus, but we can also save the Mother Elf!"

"I'd already planned not to destroy the Mother Elf," Mega Man said.

"You planned something?" Hub teased.

"Shut up!" Mega Man retorted lightly "Yes, I do plan things... sometimes. That was usually dad's job."

"You mean Dr. Light?" Glace asked. Mega Man nodded. "Oh, I think I owe you both a better explanation of that suit."

"You sure know a lot about this place," Hub commented.

"I was with people of status a lot, and I'm nosey," Glace explained simply and cheekily.

"Nosey sounds like a couple humans whom I know," Mega Man joked, gesturing to Hub. The three chuckled and the boys looked to Glace for the promised explanation.

"Well," Glace started "After Zero vanished following the Ragnarok Incident, and the remaining humans began their repopulation efforts a new type of battle suit was developed in the style of you Mega Man, your brother and Zero. They were called Mega Armour Battle Suits, and while they're completely real they rely on a miniature nanite generator, the backpack, to power their weapons systems."

"Like me, I have nanites that help reconfigure my tool and weapon systems so I can use copied attacks," Mega Man interrupted.

"Yes, that was the inspiration. Except Dr. Light's work was still difficult for even Lady Ciel to duplicate, so instead a number of preset weapons systems were implemented instead, with chips made to add more. Those chips are called battle chips, though not many were actually made, despite the large number designed.

"There were two models and only one of each was fully made before the virus came and so they were hidden away, but the chips were lost. One model type was called the X Suit, which is what you're wearing Hub, and the other was the Z Suit. I dunno how many chips were made, or where the designs are."

Hub was looking over the suit he was wearing with new awe, and was now certain of the name MegaMan Site. "What if Lan gets the Z Suit?" he asked.

"Then it makes it easier for me to babysit you guys," Mega Man teased, making an effort to hide his discomfort at the thought of another friend of his rushing into battle beside him. He was enjoying the company, and having Hub around had proven to be much better than he'd initially thought, but he still didn't like that they were brushing so close to death so often. How could he live with himself if one of them died while he knowingly let them rush into dangerous situations? They could just sit in the clean zone that Glace's gadget made and stay safe.

"Earth to Mega Man," came Glace's voice, breaking through his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh sorry, was just thinking," Mega Man said somewhat sheepishly.

"Lord Volt wants to see us before we leave," Site reminded them.

"Leave? You two just got back! You still need to rest a little more before we continue on," Glace said.

"But what about Rush? And Justin?" Mega Man said.

"And Lan and Jalon," Hub finished.

"You can't help others if you collapse from battling Metools and young cyber-elves."

Mega Man sighed, she was right of course, and he could see Site thought the same. They'd have to stay and rest for a bit before continuing on, he still wasn't recharged as much as he'd like so he jumped down onto the lawn and lay down in the sun. Before he knew it, he'd dozed off.

Dr. Lumin was shocked at how well his guests actually took the news. They didn't scream or yell at him, none of the moms fainted or burst out in some kind of panic attack. However he did notice concern and worry enter their faces, but they all seemed to be fighting the worry like he was and trying to stay strong. Yuichiro Hikari and his wife Haruka seemed particularly confident in their twin sons' abilities.

"Lan and Hub are some of the strongest kids I know," Mr, or rather, Dr. Hikari said "Plus I've set up something to ensure their safety."

"What's that?" the other adults all asked. Dr. Hikari was one of the top scientists at Slithr Labs, working alongside the famous Dr. Adder Slither, a great scientist and humanitarian with plenty of money and influence. In fact Dr. Slithr was the one who'd supported Dr. Lumin's excavation of the Light Vault.

"Well I'd heard them talking about sneaking off earlier the day before they left. I talked to them and thought I'd convinced them to not go into danger. I took a precaution though. You see as they were going to Neo Arcadia I remembered that they'd be near the Mega Armour suits. So I created a small microchip device and placed it on them both while they were sleeping. The chip is designed to draw them near to the location of the suits if they're forced a certain distance away from Mega Man or if moved in some way against their will, like if they're teleported."

"Well hopefully your plan worked," Dr. Lumin said.

"My Justin's actually more extraordinary than you think," Mrs. Elsin, Justin's mom, said "I wish he didn't have to find out this way, and I just hope he comes home fine."

Jalon's parents had been staring out the window absentmindedly. "Jalon's gone to Neo Arcadia..." Mrs. Nillan murmured.

"Ah yes, there's something I think we need to tell you about our son, but you must all keep it a secret for now," her husband said. He waited for the other parents to confirm their secrecy. "Well, it all began in Neo Arcadia..." he started, and the adults would talk into the night.

"Mega Man," whispered Glace gently shaking her blue clad friend as he lay asleep. The sun had long since set and was now beginning to rise, heralding the start of a new day in the artificial world "Does he know how to sleep or what?"

Site snorted "You haven't met Lan, sleeping and eating are his two special skills." They'd ended up moving inside to sleep when the sun set and Hub had taken the opportunity to try taking off and putting back on the suit. He managed to do so easily. At length Mega Man finally stirred and sat up groggily.

"I slept all night? I must've been worn out," he mumbled. However he was soon on his feet again and after stretching he was ready to get going again.

"How long have we been in here?" Site asked as they made their way over to the power plant.

"About a day, coming up to a day and a half soon," Mega Man answered, his internal clock had been keeping track of that.

"Oh man, our parents are gonna be worried," Site sighed.

"I told you that you shouldn't have come," Mega Man noted shortly.

"It's not like any of us knew the entire tower had been infected."

Once again Site had managed to beat him in an argument, and Mega Man both noted his friend's intelligence and sense, and pouted for losing like he was a normal kid. He got over it quick enough though and began chatting again. He now wanted to learn more about Hub, and his friend was glad to share. It turned out he was the oldest of the two Hikari twins, the younger being Lan. His dad Yuichiro Hikari was an expert in cybernetics and his mom was apparently one of the greatest chefs in New Metro, or Hub and Lan both thought so anyways.

Site also had a past of some medical problems, though all of which had since faded. When he was born he had a weak heart and almost died, but was saved by technology developed by his grandfather, Tadashi. After that he had a weak immune system for the first year of his life, and after that asthma and weak legs. "Then one night when I was about six we were all camping and I started having an asthma attack. So I got up and grabbed my inhaler, and went outside to finish using it. And I was looking up at the stars, thinking about space when I saw this bright white meteor. Except this one was actually heading right for me, but as it got nearer it started to slow down. It was hard for me to see because of the bright white, but there's was this silhouette that looked like a robot with a large hand.

"This robot he pointed to me and he spoke, and his voice was so calm and kind, but strong and powerful. I was sure I could trust him and he said 'awaken your brother young Hub; I would bestow you both with a blessing'. So I went and woke up Lan and brought him out and he just sat there wide-eyed like me and the robot reached out with his large hand and it seemed like some of the light around him flowed into his hand. Then he placed his hand on each of our heads and said something else 'the Hikari twins are destined to be heroes, no matter the world. You two shall be no different. You shall assist the great hero when he returns. Until then play, and be children, be no longer troubled by illness Hub and your brother now no longer need to bear the burden of worry.'

"Then he vanished and both me and Lan felt this surge of power in us, like a sudden, but gentle warmth. And I started to get better after that. My legs got stronger, my lungs got better and soon I was running around with my brother. In fact I think we've both become faster and stronger than most other kids since then, and I neither of us has been sick or injured for very long."

Mega Man and Glace listened to Hub's story intently and Mega Man had a hunch he knew who Hub and Lan had met. He wondered if Glace knew what we was thinking of too. "That... sounds like you met Duo," Mega Man said thoughtfully "I met him once too, in fact he saved me from death." Some of the things Site had mentioned Duo saying had struck Mega Man as interesting and deserving of analysis, so he filed them away for later.

It wasn't long after that before they reached the Power Plant, and Lord Volt was there waiting for them. He waited until the three were standing before he spoke "Mega Man, you've freed three of us Guardians from corruption and already Neo Arcadia is thrice in your debt and repaying you is barely possible."

Mega Man blushed and bowed his head sheepishly "Aww it was nothin', and don't forget Hub, err, Site here. He helped too!"

"As humble as you are powerful, that's a brilliant quality. You're right though, Site, you have Neo Arcadia's many thanks as well. And of course young Glace from the ice level, you may not be physically helping, but I know that you're silently cheering your friends on and they know it. So for that you as well have the thanks of your nation." Lord Volt's voice when uncorrupted was still buzzy, but now more cheerful sounding and he spoke quite quickly, and seemed to be in a hurry, or perhaps he was just hyper.

"Thank you Guardian," Glace and Site said.

"You must now hurry though, the Dark Queen is not likely to be happy and you still have nine more cities to go. Now that my thanks are finished I will hurry you along. The next level is that of earth, and Lord Terra rules over it. It's not a city, but one of the two more natural areas created in the likeness of a desert. Lord Terra is a little slow, but he packs one heck of a wallop if he hits you so try to avoid that."

The three kids suddenly found themselves being lifted into the air and looking down they could see a platform had formed under their feet of what seemed to be pavement. Mega Man looked back at Lord Volt who was watching the platform go, and apparently confident it would do its job he turned and sped off. It would be a short ride, but still enough time for Mega Man to fold his arms and think on what he'd learned from Site. "I really am turning into Proto Man," he said to himself and added with a smile "Hope I don't turn into Bass."

They reached the elevator up and hopped off the platform, which dispersed behind them. The moment all three had stepped into the elevator and started rising and carrying them along to the next level of Neo Arcadia. The realm of earth was coming up, and perhaps another of their friends would be there as well. He glanced over to Glace and noted he didn't really feel happy sickness anymore from being around her. He still thought she was the most awesome girl he'd ever met, besides Kalinka and Roll of course, but he wasn't feeling overjoyed about it anymore. He figured he'd just calmed down about it now.

Soon the elevator drew to a halt and the three kids stepped out into a very different type of place than before. They were in a small town with a sort of 'wild-west' theme, and beyond that was a very big desert. Not only was it massive, it was also hot and the wind was whipping up the sand into dust storms. Shielding their eyes they made their way to an inn and slipped inside. Inside the building looked more normal, but certain areas like the bar retained the wild-west look. Glace set up the anti-virus emitter in a room on the inn's second floor and turned to the boys. "So how're you two going to deal with the sandstorm?" she asked curiously.

"Visor on," Mega Man said and a cyan tinted visor dropped down over his eyes. He folded his arms confidently and Glace giggled.

"Okay, now what about you Site?" she asked.

"Um, I dunno," Site stuttered.

"Well would you believe that suit has a visor too? Same command as Mega Man actually."

"Visor on?" Site said and on cue a blue tinted visor dropped down over his eyes as well from within his helmet.

"Cool," Mega Man said and turned to Glace "Well time for us to get going."

"Go do your thing guys, Neo Arcadia's depending on you," Glace said.

Mega Man nodded; he and Hub gave their good-byes to Glace and travelled out into the gusty desert. The visors worked perfectly and they had no problem seeing Together they set off into the blistering world of sand and dry rock to attempt to find Lord Terra.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

The two warriors ploughed through the desert, their visors doing well to protect their eyes from the sand. However hearing each other proved to be a different matter entirely as they had to constantly shout over the wind and avoid sand getting in their mouths. After what felt like hours though they were still wandering amongst sand dunes and Mega Man was pretty sure they were lost. "You doing okay for water!" Mega Man asked Site.

"Yeah, the suit has heating and cooling systems too. I feel fine, I just can't see an inch in the storm even with the visor!"

"I know what you mean!" Mega Man said, looking out across the desert from the top of a dune. The desert resembled a mix between the more rocky American deserts and the more sandy Sahara and other middle-eastern deserts. The dunes were nowhere near as big as those in the Sahara, but more prominent than most of the American deserts. "This kind of reminds me of the Chihuahuan Desert! I visited it once to fight Gypsum Man!"

"Do you see anything that looks like some kind of stronghold for Lord Terra?" Site asked, ignoring Mega Man's reminiscing. In response Mega Man shifted through some sight options. Of course infrared was useless, scan vision could barely penetrate the storm more than his normal vision.

"I can't see anything!" the Blue Bomber yelled at last. They could end up very hopelessly lost if they weren't careful, but this desert was a simulation desert was inside a massive tower. He'd navigated other deserts by downloading maps and using his internal compass. "Oh! I have an idea!" he cried "I'll set my internal compass to always point to the anti-virus emitter!"

"You can do that?" Site asked. Mega Man nodded and after scanning around him he picked up the unique signature of the anti-virus emitter.

"So if we call the emitter 'north' than my systems say we're... south-east of the town."

"Okay, and most of the bases for the Guardians have been in the center of the level right?"

"So we need to start heading a little more west," Mega Man and Site said almost simultaneously. So they turned a little until Mega Man judged they were heading towards the center and began their trek. However the sandstorm seemed to shift to blow right in their faces, but Mega Man had navigation now. It was a long while of walking through nothing but sand, though the dunes started to lessen. However after a while they could see, in the midst of the storm, large rocky shapes in the distance sticking out through the clouds of sand.

"There's some rock formations up ahead!" Site said.

"I can see 'em, the sand's getting shallower too." Through the sand clouds Mega Man could make out rock formations, natural arches and pillars scattered across hard rock out of which grew a cactus or two. He felt his boots hit something hard and knew they'd made it onto the rocky area. "This seems too easy," Mega Man said, the sand still blowing around them.

"You're right. We've only had the sandstorm to get in our way, nothing else." Right on cue several Pantheons appeared from under the sand. Unlike the ones from below these ones had drills on their arms and moved on caterpillar treads.

"Guess you spoke too soon," Mega Man said and armed his buster.

"Halt intruders! If you surrender quietly you will be taken to the Her Dark Majesty for processing," one of the Pantheons said as the mavericks formed a circle around their captives.

"No deal!" both boys cried and fired. Bolts of plasma struck and destroyed the heads of several Pantheons and both boys jumped out of the circle and whirled to fire in mid-air. They landed with swords at the ready and moved back in as twin whirlwinds of justice. They returned to their original positions in the middle of a circle of broken and destroyed robots. They grinned and high fived before moving on into the city of weathered and eroded rock.

Within this rocky section of the desert the sandstorm seemed to be a little less intense. Mega Man theorized that because they were at the center of the level it was like the 'eye of the storm'. That didn't mean traversing it was easy, in fact the lesser intensity of the storm was made up for by the terrain. The rocks caused some difficulty moving around and the large pillars and arches cast large shadows in the meagre light and made things even darker.

To make matters worse they were now starting to face cyber-elves and Pantheons, the latter teleporting in or drilling up from the ground. Mega Man and Site both agreed that there might be something underneath them that the Pantheons were coming out of. However the holes left behind were difficult to see down and neither boy wanted to risk climbing down small tunnels in the sandstorm. "I suspect there might be some kind of tunnel network underneath," Mega Man said "But we need to look for a safe entrance."

"You think Lord Terra's down there?"

"Probably."

"Do you have any ideas where the main entrance to the place could be?"

Mega Man stopped walking and gazed up a high cliff that was clearly part of a large mesa. He could vaguely make out a path along the cliff, but it was lost in the sand and where the cliff curved. It was difficult to tell in the sandstorm how big the mesa was, but if the previous 'fortresses' were anything to judge by then it was probably quite large, but perhaps not as large as some real mesas could get. "Come on Site, there's a path over there and I bet it leads to the answer to your question!"

"Are you sure it's a good idea to climb anything in this storm? Shouldn't we look for another way in?" Site asked as he ran after his friend.

Mega Man stopped at the base of the pathway while Site caught up "I don't think there are any other ways. I prefer a path that I can see a bit of to a dark drop that I can't see any of. Come on!" Mega Man gestured for Site to follow and started up the path.

"Mega Man is actually trying to be careful?" Site said to himself.

"I heard that!" Mega Man shouted back.

Site jumped and began walking up the path.

The path eventually gave way to wooden steps imbedded in the path way, and some short flights of wooden steps leading up to other paths. This was obviously supposed to be a tourist attraction in Neo Arcadia, but the virus had put an end to that. There were alot of steps though. Not that either boy was tired out in the least, but it grew dull and repetitive, and was made difficult by the swirling, blowing sand. Still the boys pressed on, occasionally having to fight cyber-elves; in this case they threw rocks. However their busters proved more than efficient in returning the elves to cyberspace.

After a time the path narrowed a bit and levelled off a bit, the steps ending. There was a fence along the side to keep people from falling, but it was weakened by the constant sand and lack of upkeep. They were rounding a corner when they saw several cyber-elves materialize and together summon a trio of massive boulders, but instead of firing them at the blue-clad warriors they hurled them at the path. Too late Mega Man realized what they were trying to do and fired on the elves. "It's too late Mega Man! The path is destroyed and you can't reach Lord Terra's sanctum!" they cried and laughed uncontrollably as their bodies were destroyed.

"That gap's too big for me to jump, and my short-range teleporter is offline," Mega Man said with frustration, kicking a rock down the large gap. Almost the entire side of the mesa in front of them was ruined. He could see a ledge on the far side of the gap, but it was out of jumping distance easily, as he'd already noted.

"Mine's working," Site said "But it couldn't cross this gap."

"I don't think mine would either," Mega Man added. He was stumped there was only two solutions he could think of "We have to either find another way up, or try our luck with one of those Pantheon tunnels."

"There could be some way across," Site said.

"We could climb across!" Mega Man cried with a grin much to Site's shock. He'd always enjoyed rock climbing at the indoor climbing walls, and occasionally with one of his siblings on a real cliff. It was one of those exhilarating sports he really enjoyed.

"Do you even have a threat index system?" Site asked.

"Yes, but I just ignore it unless necessary."

"Anyways, I don't think this suit could handle a fall like that."

Mega Man sighed, this wasn't really the time for rock climbing anyways, but the prospect had brought back memories and he'd gotten excited. "You're right, I'm not even sure I could handle a fall like that. Come on let's go see what we can find."

As they walked back down the path Mega Man started scanning the walls of the mesa. The idea was to see if there was perhaps a hidden tunnel entrance somewhere that was a secret exit or back entrance. However the pursuit seemed fruitless with his scans coming back with nothing but thick, sturdy walls of rock. He still wasn't really sure he wanted to climb down the Pantheon tunnels. Not only was the drop distance unknown to him, but it seemed like bringing both Hub and himself right into the middle of a wasp's nest.

"Are you looking for something?" Site asked after a lengthy silence from the android.

"Yeah; some kind of weakness in the cliff that would suggest an auxiliary passage of some kind. So far though I can't find anything."

"Do you really think there'll be anything like that?"

"It's worth a try isn't it?" Mega Man said as he continued to scan the solid reddish-brown rock. Yet it more and more seemed like a hopeless search. And soon new Pantheons appeared, similar in design to the drilling kind, but with large fists instead of drills. They also appeared to teleport in. However the two warriors had long since gotten adept at shutting down Pantheons and with the low numbers that the robots were forced into due to the terrain these soldiers proved to be utterly unchallenging.

At last they reached the bottom of the mesa again, Mega Man having found absolutely nothing in the cliff to indicate a weakness. He wasn't licked yet though, he was going to circle the mesa and search every last inch for some other way in. He was not bringing Site down one of the Pantheon tunnels; in fact he didn't think it was a good idea to go down them. He was reckless, not stupid. Besides, he thought, the holes might have been closed by now, and so he was intent on finding some way in via the mesa.

"Maybe we could try luring him out," Site suggested after another hour of no new discoveries, but more dark cyber-elf and maverick attacks.

"Yeah maybe," Mega Man said distractedly as he continued his search. There was nothing but solid rock. He whirled to shoot down several cyber-elves as they attempted to sneak attack, something he'd been doing a lot of, and continued on.

"Come on Mega Man, this is wasting time," Site said after what seemed to be another hour of the Blue Bomber finding nothing.

"No, I'm going to see this through." He kept walking and only seconds later he stopped and gazed intently at the cliff. There seemed to be a slight discrepancy in the rock; the surface dipped inwards suddenly about a millimetre. It was subtle, but visible, and closer inspection revealed it was a little smoother and a slightly different colour to the rest of the rock. This was what he'd been looking for, a door hidden in the cliff.

"Did you find something Mega Man?"

"Oh yeah!" Mega Man cried. He ran his hands over the section of stone and rapped on it with his knuckles. Judging from the very slight echo there was definitely something behind it.

"Okay so you found a door, but how do we open it?" Site asked, his patience beginning to wane.

"I'm working on it. There's a catch somewhere here... hah, got it!" Mega Man said as his hands found a small hole that held a button which made sixteen stone squares appear from the door together forming a larger square. When Mega Man pushed on one of the small squares it slid into the door along with all the squares adjacent to it. But when he pushed in another one beside the first group, some of the squares adjacent to it came out again. "Ah, one of these puzzles. This shouldn't be too har-" he was cut off by the sound of teleports and a squadron of about thirty Pantheons and juvenile cyber-elves, the kind that looked like large dolls with horns. Thus far these were the most powerful kind, and these ones were all equipped with large gauntlets.

"I think things just got harder," Site said.

"You'll have to hold them off Site, I need to work on this combination."

"Why don't you help and do that later?" Site asked, already blasting away at the mavericks and elves.

"It's quicker this way. I'll help when I can though."

Site shrugged, it probably would be quicker if the two of them were multi-tasking. So he got into a battle stance and readied sword and blaster. He understood the battle mood now, focused on your enemy and striking before they struck, dodging if you failed. It was a pure and intense focus where you let your intelligence and instincts work together as one. He wasn't a berserker or anything, but he understood that there was a certain intense concentration behind even the sanest warrior. And as the battle went on he was able to still pay attention to his friend. "How's it coming?" Site asked as he blasted a cyber-elf wearing rock armour.

"It's coming. Just hold them off a little longer please!" Mega Man said, whirling quickly to fire a spreader shot before turning back to the puzzle. The pressure of the moment was getting to him and he'd already made several stupid errors. Normally he'd be done in seconds, but intellectual pursuits and the heat of battle don't mix well. Plus he was worried about Site, what if he couldn't handle the fight.

"They're still coming in Mega Man, but I can handle them. Don't worry about me, just get the door open," Site cried, using a charged shot to blast down a Drill Pantheon that tried to sneak attack him. The suit did an incredible job of enhancing his physical skills. Site realized that he still wasn't all that tired or fatigued, despite walking and climbing through a sandstorm and fighting robots all the way. Unfortunately things were starting to get too hectic and he really hoped Mega Man got the door open soon.

"Got it!" Mega Man cried after several more minutes of fighting. The stone cracked down the middle and slid open. The elves and Pantheons were starting to mount up into a major assault. Seeing that Site needed a chance to break away, Mega Man charged up his arm cannon, his armour changing to yellow and dark purple as he did so. Then he fired a blast of pure electricity and swept it through the swarm of robots and elves. "Electric Blast!" he cried as he did so and he saw Site break away from the fighting.

Together they dashed through the doorway, but some of the more humanoid looking elves followed them, wisps of darkness floating off their rock-armoured bodies. And then they entered the tunnel and suddenly began writhing and twisting in midair. They screamed a little and then paused in midair. Their dark purple skin lightened to pink and when they opened their eyes they looked around with some confusion. "What happened?" Site asked.

"I think they were just cured," Mega Man replied "Maybe this tunnel has an anti-virus field."

"We're free!" the three cyber-elves cried joyously and upon spotting Mega Man gasped and bowed deeply "Forebearer! It's actually you! We knew you'd be the one to save our world from the Darkness."

"You don't need to call me-"

"Our legends all said that the mighty Mega Man is only sleeping until the world is in peril," one of the elves said gleefully.

"I think that's King Arthur," Mega Man said, feeling embarrassed by the incredible praise being bestowed on him. He hadn't even done anything; they'd flown into the anti-virus field on their own, under the virus' influence.

"The tale is also applicable to you Forebearer. If not for you this tunnel would not have been uncovered and we would not have flown in."

Mega Man sighed and turned to look down the tunnel "But you're trapped here now. If you leave the tunnel the virus will re-infect you," he said as he looked into the semi-darkness ahead.

"It is freedom compared to being forced to commit such atrocities as we did. Let us aid you in some way," one of the elves said.

"We don't know how far down the tunnel the field extends. You could all be re-infected at any moment..." he said, getting silence from his new little fan club.

"I'm Lem," said one of the cyber-elves, he had a red gem on his chest.

"I'm Mun," said the second, she had a green gem on her chest.

"I'm Atla," the third said, with a blue gem on her chest. Why they'd all chosen to just introduce themselves proved to Mega Man that he'd made a valid point to them.

"Nice to meet you all," he said with a friendly smile "My name is Rock Light, but since I'm armoured call me by my warrior alias; Mega Man."

"And I'm Hub Hikari, but call me Site while I'm armoured. It's short for Mega Man Site," Site added in.

"Nice to meet you both," Mun said "You found one of the armours. That's good to know."

"Yeah, it's been really helpful," Site said.

"Mega Man, may we please accompany you?" Lem asked "I can't feel the presence of the virus for a good ways down the tunnel.

"You can sense the virus?" Mega Man asked.

"We can, kind of. We can't tell where exactly its presence starts until we're almost right at it, but together the three of us can sense it from a good distance away."

"And you didn't tell me this before because...?" Mega Man asked with some slight, but obvious irritation.

"Because we weren't sure ourselves how well we could detect the changes between cleansed and infected," Lem said.

The blue android sighed with arms folded. More taggers-on meant more he had to worry about, even though these two were cyber-elves. However if they were in an anti-virus area then there probably wasn't any kind of danger. Plus he'd like a chance to talk to some true cyber-elves, ones not corrupted by the virus. His face broke into a smile and he finally said "Okay! It'd be awesome to have you along." The elves cheered and flew around the two boys happily. With that decision made the group began their trip down the tunnel.

The tunnel was actually rather well lit and turned into one of metal painted white. It was quite a change from the dim and dark corridors and tunnels Mega Man had been travelling through before. Soon enough though they came to a large steel door and on the door was a plasma touch screen with something written on it. "What's the real name of Proto Man?" Mega Man read out loud and with surprise.

"Proto Man? That weird brother of yours?" Site asked.

"Yeah..." Mega Man replied distantly and entered the answer into the space below the question. How did someone in Neo Arcadia know about Proto Man's real name? And why put that kind of question on some random door? Since finding out there was an anti-virus field on the tunnel he'd already deduced that this tunnel did not lead into Lord Terra's lair. The question remained then, who made it and where did it go?

After ten minutes of walking they came to another, slightly larger steel door. It bore four plasma screens, each with their own puzzle, riddle or question. There was a fifth one under the row, but it was off. Mega Man decided to work from right to left, and the rest of the group agreed that it should be him to do it, being the one with the fastest computational and thinking abilities. "A man who lives on the tenth floor takes the elevator down to the first floor every morning and goes to work. In the evening, when he comes back; on a rainy day, or if there are other people in the elevator, he goes to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment. Can you explain why?" Mega Man read from the first screen.

"Um... he likes the exercise?" Site suggested.

"No, he's short," Mega Man answered and entered that into the screen. It flashed to showing a large green checkmark. Mega Man grinned confidently in response "See? Easy."

"What does a type of music, the sky, a kind of berry, a name for an emotional state and an ancient hero have in common?" Site read out from the next panel. Mega Man moved over to the panel and quickly typed in the answer. "Blue?" Site asked, looking over his friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, the Blues is a kind of music, the sky is blue, there're blueberries and if you're unhappy you're said to be blue," Mega Man explained "AND as before, an ancient hero would be Proto Man, whose real name was Blues."

"You know..." Atla said "I don't remember shaping this room."

"What?" Site asked.

"Well we cyber-elves helped shape the nanites into the original cities," Lem explained "But I don't remember ever making this room."

"Y'know with all these references to the Dawn of Androids, I wonder if it's the Prince Consort," Mun mused.

"The Prince Consort?" Mega Man asked "My brother?"

"Yes, the Blue Sage, the Queen's Consort, the Founder, High Lord X," Atla answered. Mega Man was beginning to see a theme of pomp and grandeur amongst cyber-elf and Neo Arcadian culture.

"Erm, what titles do you have for me?" Mega Man asked curiously.

"You? The Forebearer, the Blue Bomber, the Great Defender, the Youthful Knight, Defender of His Holiness Light," Atla said, counting off the titles on his fingers, things Mega Man hadn't noticed before.

"Wait... His Holiness? My dad's a god to you?"

"Only in Neo Arcadia... the Queen felt he deserved that recognition. And is he not the creator of true Artificial Intelligence?"

Mega Man couldn't really argue; Dr. Light hadn't been the first to work with A.I, but he'd made the most progress with it. He decided to drop the discussion and move onto the third panel. On it was, oddly, a bunch of jigsaw puzzle pieces all jumbled up; a digital jigsaw puzzle. "I like jigsaws," Mega Man murmured offhandedly. The puzzle filled almost the entire screen and appeared to have maybe three hundred pieces. Not particularly hard by any means, especially for an android who quite swiftly assembled it, despite the odd working space of a monitor.

The picture the puzzle created was that of a large cartoon heart next to a giraffe and an elephant, both of which were very small by comparison. "Oh this one I get," Site said "It's a big heart."

"A big heart…" Mega Man murmured absently. Shaking his head he moved onto the last panel. "Robots have something much greater than humans. What is it?"

"Seems simple enough," Site said "If there's one thing you all have in greater quantities than us, it's-" Site said.

"Strength," Mega Man finished. As soon as he entered this answer all the panels displayed check marks on them, and suddenly the fifth screen turned on and displayed its own question. "Put the answers together and the answer is clear, who is fit to enter here?" he read.

"Short, blue, a big heart, and great strength," Site said.

"I think I know the answer," Mega Man said.

"What is it?" the elves and Site asked in unison.

"Me, Mega Man. I'm short, blue, strong, and… everyone said I had a big heart." He typed this answer in, but was feeling strangely sad. Did he really have a big heart? Was he really strong? He wasn't sure anymore. Part of him just wanted to permanently shut down, that would get rid of the pain of a constantly broken heart. But he couldn't do that; he couldn't abandon the world to evil. But he was going to do whatever he could do avoid heart ache.

Mega Man sighed and shook the depressing thoughts from his mind. He could worry about that later. For now he just had to press onward. He finished typing the answer in and took a step back as the door groaned and hissed before sliding open in a cloud of dust. The group waited for the dust to settle a bit and then moved on into the room beyond.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

The room inside the door was clean with white and blue panels covering the walls, floor, and ceiling. The room wasn't exactly big either, but large enough for a tall human to fit inside easily. In the center of the room was a raised section on which sat some sort of capsule, about six feet tall with the two ends supported by a cylindrical energy field. Mega Man also noticed several other shelves and compartments around the room. "It's a cache," Mega Man said.

"Yeah," Site added in awe, looking around.

"Hey! Battle chips!" Atla cried, looking at one of the shelves.

"This capsule thingy looks kinda familiar," Mun said.

"You know, it kind of does," Mega Man said, rapping his knuckles on the force field; it was solid-feeling. Dr. Light had several of these in his lab once, or sort of like this one anyways. His were a bit larger and the cylinder between the two ends was a solid plasti-glass instead of an energy field. Mega Man never did find out what it was for.

Spotting a terminal on the back wall of the room, Mega Man hopped down off the capsule platform and went to take a look. "What's that?" Site asked.

"Control terminal for the capsule I imagine," Mega Man answered and added after a concentrated pause "I'm gonna try and unlock the capsule here, go look at those battle chips."

Site could see his friend was busy as he typed away on the terminal's keyboard and occasionally tapped the touch-screen with his finger. That being the case Site took his advice and looked through the shelves. They held rows upon rows of little containers, simple boxes really each labelled with different symbols and the name of the kinds of chips inside. There were meteor chips, basic swords, advanced swords, basic busters, advanced busters, fire chips, water chips, nature chips and electric chips.

"I don't think I could carry all of these," Site murmured.

"Trust us, the suit can hold the data of at least one of each of these," Atla said.

"Yeah, but it can only choose from thirty at a time," Mun added.

"Huh?" Site asked, completely confused.

"Well you can upload the data of these chips to the suit's memory, but you can set only thirty for actual use in battle," Lem explained.

"Like a deck. You can only use a deck of thirty chips, the rest will be stored in the suit's memory. So you can, um, what's the word…" Mun said.

"Customize!" Atla cried happily.

"Yeah! Plus you can physically store some of them, if we meet up with Lan and he has the Zero Suit."

"Sounds like a good idea then," MegaMan Site said with a smile. He began inspecting the chips individually, looking for some that would be useful. He considered just uploading all of them, but the idea didn't seem particularly prudent. The chips came in levels, with level five being the strongest. Most of the pre-installed chips on his suit were level one or two. Luckily he was able to find some level four and five versions of the swords and busters he already had, and some he didn't. He also added in a couple meteors too. Finally he found a couple special red chips, giga chips he was told that he added to his suit.

"Got it!" Mega Man shouted suddenly, causing Site and the cyber-elves to jump.

"Got what?" Site asked, putting the remaining chips away.

"Administrative controls for this room. I've been looking for ways to open the capsule there, and I've finally found out how," Mega Man explained "It was annoying, but there seemed to be sort of a 'bread crumb trail' throughout the programming. That's what took me so long, it was very twisty."

"Okay," Site said, not really understanding "So will you open it?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Mega Man replied, momentarily flustered by the interruption. He'd wanted to show off for a little bit longer, but it was true that there wasn't much time for that. Swiftly he tapped the control buttons and the energy barrier dropped. "There, easy." He moved towards the capsule when suddenly within the space between the two ends appeared a hologram.

It showed a boy of about fourteen or fifteen wearing a blue vestment with light blue sleeves, blue shoes and a blue helmet with a red gem or light at the front, part of a ridge that ran along the middle. Around the helmet circled a white data-halo that sometimes obscured the helmet and his eyes were dark, but shiny with mirth. "Lord X!" the three cyber-elves cried and dropped into a bow.

"It's not him, just a hologram," Mega Man said. Still, it was the first good look he'd been able to get of his youngest brother; and as a result he was rather excited.

"If this message is playing, then the listener can only be my big brother; that means you Mega Man. I put as many measures in place to ensure only you could reach this location as I could. In addition it must mean that Neo Arcadia is in grave danger, and I have been incapacitated. I therefore bestow upon you Mega Man the ability to quickly reach great speeds and jump great distances. These are the dash boots, step into the capsule and you will receive them." The message ended and the capsule glowed in the middle.

Mega Man stepped up into the capsule as instructed. He felt a sudden surge of energy wash around him and looked down to see the back of each of his boots open up and reveal a rocket thruster and an extra little armoured anklet around his boots, white-silver in colour. Then the energy wave dissipated and he hopped down out of the capsule and tested the boots by dashing up the tunnel in seconds. The burst of speed didn't last long, but it was incredible nonetheless. "So maybe I can cross that gap now," Mega Man said, returning to his friends "Oh, but what about you Site?"

"I've been wondering the same thing. I've had one idea, assuming there aren't any chips that could help."

"What's that?" Mega Man asked.

"You could throw me across," Site answered simply, but to Mega Man's great shock.

"Th-throw you? I can't do that!" Mega Man cried.

"You're strong enough aren't you?"

"M-maybe," Mega Man stuttered "But I don't think that's a good idea. You could get hurt, or I might not be able to throw you the entire distance."

"I think you can, you're Mega Man!"

"But I've never used my strength on a human, not intentionally anyways or without good reason. If I can't make the throw you could get hurt, you'd go straight into rock."

Site sighed "Let me see if there's any other alternative." Of course there wasn't an alternative. It didn't take long for both boys to see that, so Mega Man was left with no other choice.

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" Mega Man asked as they made their way back through the tunnel.

"If it makes you feel any better I'll have my short-range teleport set in case you can't make the throw. It should cover the rest of the distance."

"Okay, I'll get you across then, you can count on it."

They reached the entrance to the tunnel where the Pantheons and dark elves waited, just beyond the invisible, intangible anti-virus barrier. Lem, Atla and Mun giggled and flew around in front of the entrance, making faces. "Hey ugly Pantheons!" Mun teased.

"You were abandoned decades ago because you're so useless!" Lem added.

"That's enough guys," Mega Man said and moved to the front of the group "Can none of you fight the virus!" he called out to the group.

"Negative android," one of the dark elves spat.

Mega Man sighed as his armour colour changed to yellow and purple. He raised his buster, charging it to the point that sparks jumped around it. "Lightning Cannon!" he cried and a massive blast, or bolt perhaps, of lightning tore out of his buster and through the entire group in front of the tunnel. With the powerful energy that surged through them all with temperatures greater than the surface of the sun, it was no wonder that when the energy dissipated the area in front of the cave was clear of any enemies.

"Woah!" the cyber-elves said in awe.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Atla muttered.

"Which is why you three have to stay here," Mega Man said.

"We knew that," Lem replied "We'll wait here and when you cure Lord Terra we'll come and meet up with you then."

"Okay," Mega Man said. With that he and Site left the tunnel to turn their attention to climbing the mesa and getting past the gap.

They returned to the howling wind and blowing sand and made their way to the gap in the path. Wanting to be sure he could make it, Mega Man backed up a bit and jet dashed straight towards the edge. He pushed off with his powerful legs and swung himself in mid-air to make the most of the jets' boost. He landed on the other side flawlessly, past the edge enough that he couldn't slip. Turning around he saw Site waiting. Mega Man turned and jumped back, landing beside his friend.

"Good job storm eagle," Site quipped cheekily "I have my teleport ready, it's all up to you."

Mega Man gulped, but picked his friend up and held him up over his head, his hands around Site's waist. He'd never thought about how light humans were, but they really were. This might not be so bad after all, he thought. He positioned Site into a position where he was facing forwards and had him stiffen his body to help gain distance and speed with a slightly more aerodynamic form. "Ready?" Mega Man asked at last, his calculations already done.

"As I'll ever be," Site replied, though Mega Man's sensors could detect his friend's heightened heartbeat. He was nervous, but then again Mega Man was feeling that way too. He took a deep breath and then with all his strength hurled Site across the gap. He watched his friend swing about in midair so that he'd land feet first.

Mega Man's heart, or power core, skipped a beat when he saw Site's trajectory falling just short of the ledge. Site would instead be heading towards a face plant in the ledge. Site noticed this too though it would seem, because he activated something in his suit and vanished. Seconds later he reappeared on the far side of the gap, though on his stomach due to the hurried nature of the teleport. Other than that he was fine and he stood up and waved to show that he was okay. Mega Man proceeded to once again dash jump across the gap and land next to his friend. "Got by that at last," Mega Man said, peering through the sandstorm to see the path ahead "Your visor holding up Site?"

"Yeah, I think so. I'd kinda forgotten I was wearing it."

"Then let's go." Mega Man took the lead and the two marched on up the rocky path.

The path forwards proved to be oddly empty of hazards, though the sandstorm seemed to intensify there were no mavericks or dark elves. So at last they reached the top of the mesa. Before the two boys was a large plain of reddish rock, obscured by the blowing sands. More importantly though there was a large hole in the middle of that plain of red rock, and there was no doubt that it was the hole they'd been looking for.

Approaching the hole they saw it led down into the darkness of a cave, and with determined nods to each other, they proceeded to descend into its darkness. Mega Man's helmet lights turned on and he shifted his eyes in low-light mode. "Can you see okay Site?" he asked.

"Hang on," he murmured and a pair of lights on his helmet switched on too. "Now I can," he added and looked around the tunnel. There really wasn't much to see, it was just an underground tunnel. The two started walking again, following the tunnel as it wound into the earth and darkness. As they went they saw the tunnel begin to widen, and stalactites and stalagmites appeared in the ceiling and ground. There were side tunnels too, but they decided that it would be best to stay on the path they were on.

"We're well under the mesa now," Mega Man said after maybe an hour and a half of walking through the twisting, winding tunnel. It had opened into the occasional room, but nothing particularly noteworthy. That was until they took their next few steps and walked out into a very large cavern, easily as large as any real cavern.

"Woah," Site murmured "That's amazing… those stalactites are massive, and the ones on the ground."

"You've never been inside a cave before have you?" Mega Man asked.

Site shook his head "It's amazing."

"Well you can be wowed later, look over there," Mega Man said and pointed ahead, and dimming his helmet lights at the same time. The reason was hundreds of drill Pantheons all rolling around on their treads, or walking on four legs formed from halves of the treads. They were drilling, and patrolling and overall forming an obstacle. They weren't near the tunnel that the two boys were in; it was actually rather out of the way in the massive cavern and sat on a ledge overlooking the bulk of the cave.

"Guess we were right about this being where Lord Terra is," Site muttered, dimming his own helmet lights. Though there was enough light coming from the Pantheons and basic lights that they weren't really necessary.

"I think I can take 'em," Mega Man muttered and started to move down the ramp.

"Oh no!" Site hissed and pulled him back "This is why you need me. I stop you from being reckless."

"You kidding? They're just robots. They don't have cyber-elf assistance and they're slow. I can run circle around them!" Mega Man explained.

"No! You use that considerable brain power you have."

"It's tired from all those riddles," Mega Man pouted goofily. Site groaned and rolled his eyes to which Mega Man laughed. "You're right," he said, his voice serious again as he scanned the area with a determined expression "Less fighting and less danger if we think our way past this problem." He gazed up at the ceiling and looked over the many stalactites scattered across them. Site followed his friend's gaze and felt his stomach do a somersault.

"You're not thinking…" Site asked with dread.

"Nope, I'm done thinking about it," Mega Man answered with a grin of pure mischief.

"They're too slippery! There's no way we could hang onto them."

"They're not slippery, they're nanite created so they're perfectly dry," Mega Man explained "I've already scanned them too, dry as a bone."

"So where are we heading? We can't just hop around on stalactites looking for the way to Lord Terra's throne room. For that matter how are we gonna get up to them?"

Mega Man pointed to a nearby column, a fusion created when stalactites and stalagmites connected. "That's how we get up," he said and then pointed across the cavern to a large tunnel entrance decorated with jewels and crystals. "And _that _is where we're going."

"Even when you're using your brain you're still reckless," Site mumbled with a sigh.

"I heard that," Mega Man said abruptly, but laughed to show he wasn't angry "Okay let's do this." He looked over the nearby column and swung his arms and legs around it and pulled himself upwards. His gloves had super-grip properties, and he imagined Site's did too. So this wasn't that hard. It was like climbing a tree. A quick glance down confirmed that Site did indeed have gloves with such properties. It was these properties that had made Mega Man consider climbing the mesa, but the wind and the sand probably would've interfered with it in some way.

When he reached the point where the column came close to the ceiling he craned his neck around and found a stalactite within arms' reach. With a little push off from the column he flew and grabbed hold of the spike of rock. He hung there on the stalactite and looked behind him to see Site was ready to follow. Mega Man looked for the closest stalactite and after a short climb up the current one he made the jump. He caught the stalactite and repeated this process, swinging through the shadows of the ceiling, and out of sight of the army below. There was the issue of falling, but Mega Man had survived falls of this height before. And if Site slipped, he'd make sure to catch him.

This method of stalactite hopping actually went quite well, and despite the occasional near miss, they managed to avoid falling. Then they reached the large jewel encrusted tunnel entrance and looked down at the particularly powerful looking Pantheons, these ones armed especially sharp looking drills. "You didn't think about how to get down did you?" Site whispered.

"Shut up," Mega Man hissed back. This was almost as bad as Rush. Still he looked around for some way down that wouldn't land them right in the middle of a horde of robots. There was none. Given that he had only one idea "Sneak attack," he whispered to Site.

"Alright," he replied "On your mark?"

Mega Man nodded and counted to three with one hand free. When he reached three he morphed that arm into his buster and fired off a level two fire charge; the mini-meteor to be exact. He followed this up with several mega buster shots and dropped from the stalactite. Site fired several spreader shots and landed with a HiCannon ready. Before any of the Pantheons could react the two Mega Men blasted apart the tunnel guards and grabbed the drills from them, hurling the tools at some of the approaching troops like massive darts.

The drills pierced some of the robots, and smashed through other, but the destruction and mayhem they caused was enough for the two warriors to escape down the tunnel. Mega Man stopped to fire several buster shots at the ceiling, causing the tunnel entrance to shudder and crack, and some of it to collapse. "That should buy us a little extra time," Mega Man said, catching up with Site.

"Yeah well look ahead," Site replied. Ahead was a large pair of stone doors with veins of gold, jewels and crystals lining it. No doubt this was the entrance to Lord Terra's throne room. So the question was how to open it.

"Let me see if I can open it," Mega Man said, moving forwards and pulling the door with all his might. Despite his enhanced strength though it wouldn't budge, Site even joined in and still it wouldn't move. At last they collapsed against it, panting. "If I had the Super Arm I could move it," Mega Man said.

Site looked up and tried to find some way to open it. Mega Man did the same and together the shouted "The crystals!" They jumped up and inspected the small crystals adorning the door and sure enough they could be turned. They were the keys to open the door. The problem, though, was that neither of the Mega Men knew the combination and a quick look around didn't seem to reveal any clues. Both took a step back and examined the door more thoroughly. There were six crystals in a hexagonal pattern across the door, though luckily none were out of reach of the boys. And each crystal was a different colour of the rainbow.

"There's no violet," Site noted after giving the crystals a better look.

"Yeah I was wondering about that myself," Mega Man said "All the crystals have square bases," he added. He also noted that one corner of each had a particularly prominent spike pointing out from it.

"The spike looks like it might point somewhere," Site said.

"Y'know this reminds me of something," Mega Man mused "Notice how the colours go clockwise from red to indigo?"

"Yeah."

"Well I remember when I used to go to school that someone in art made a simple 'colour hexagon'. Each corner was a different coloured dot with the final violet dot in the middle."

"Oh I see, so you think that there's a seventh crystal? Hidden in the middle?" Site asked.

"Yeah, exactly," Mega Man confirmed "And each crystal's base has a little spike that would work perfectly as a pointer of some kind."

"So we should try pointing them to the middle," Site finished.

"Yeah, and in rainbow order, come on." Mega Man took the right side of the hexagon and Site took the left. Site started by turning the red crystal until it was pointing to the center. Next Mega Man turned to orange crystal to do the same, followed by the yellow and green crystals. Then Site finished off by turning the blue and indigo crystals to point to the center. As Mega Man had expected a hexagonal section of the door within the outer pattern moved out of the way and a violet crystal appeared, larger than the others.

"You're good at this," Site said, to which Mega Man giggled. The android grabbed the crystal and turned it. There was a sort of clicking and the doors slid open to reveal a massive pillared throne room decorated in crystals, gold, jewels, and at the end was a massive dais. The boys strode through the doors into the room and the doors slid shut behind them.

Sitting on the dais was the Guardian they sought; a large robot similar to Lord Vulcan and Cryon in build. He had a block-like head with large glowing eyes and a 'visor-mouth' similar to Vulcan and Cryon, that is a mouth that was merely a row of vertical slits like a knight's visor. Atop his head were two sharp ridges. The rest of his body was broad and slightly angular, but with round shoulder armour and with spikes of rock jutting up from them. From the waist down he was tank-like, similar to his Pantheons, with treads that were currently split into four legs. As for weapons he held a mace in one hand and a drill covered the other. Like all corrupted Guardians he was covered in rust, the sign of corruption.

"Mega Man, I see you've figured out my door's combination," Lord Terra said. He really was quite large. Though no taller than Vulcan or Cryon, he had more width and length.

"Lord Terra, please just let me cure you. Fight the virus' corruption."

"I would love to," Lord Terra said "No filthy virus can take my mind completely, but I'm afraid my body has been taken from me."

"Y-you're not corrupted?" Site asked.

"Not completely, but all but my will and my voice are left to me. I've been fighting a losing battle these last several decades. All I can do is apologize for what I'm about to do. Now hurry, let's do this!" Lord Terra cried. He flourished his mace and held his drill out forwards, spinning. He shifted into treaded mode and charged. The Mega Men jumped aside and rolled to a crouching position and fired plasma shots aimed for his chest as he turned to charge them again.

The fight wasn't to be that easy of course. Instead a wall of rock rose in front of Lord Terra and their plasma shots did nothing but create scorch marks on the rock. The boys dashed back together as Terra drilled into the wall to remove it from his path. "So any ideas?" Site asked.

"Um… no," Mega Man said "We could destroy the wall with some of our more powerful attacks, but I don't want to hurt Lord Terra too much."

"I don't have enough energy for a program advance," Site said.

"Yeah I'm a bit worn out too." Their discussion was cut short as the Guardian smashed through his own rock wall and it became clear why he'd taken the time to do so. Several large chunks of rock were left and Terra smashed them towards the boys with his mace. They moved aside just in time to avoid them and kept running to avoid getting hit by the rest. Mega Man switched to ice mode and fired spikes of ice towards Terra's treads. A plan had started to form in his mind, and he was going to put it into action. However he forgot to pay attention to Lord Terra who had summoned several large boulders and sent them hurling towards both boys. Mega Man felt a surge of pain as a boulder smashed into him.

"Mega Man!" Site cried as his friend was thrown against a wall. Mega Man however, despite hurting once again, managed to shove the rock aside and get back to his feet. The rock wasn't actually that large and as he guessed it was well within his strength limits. He picked the boulder up and hurled it at Lord Terra's head. It struck home and the Guardian was left stunned. Mega Man took this opportunity to dash in close and fire a continuous stream of frost at the Guardian's treads. He noticed Site across the room glance at him and then begin doing the same with his own frost weapons.

The treads were soon covered in a thick layer of ice and Lord Terra regained consciousness to realize he was quite stuck. Mega Man grabbed his M-Sabre and jet dashed by Terra, slicing through his treads wherever he could reach. Site did the same, using his short range teleport to achieve the same effect. However they realized too late that they'd put themselves in range of the mace and found themselves being swatted away by the weapon. When they got to their feet Lord Terra had shifted back into legs mode.

"So he can't charge us," Site said as the Mega Men regrouped behind a pillar "Now what?"

"I'm not sure," Mega Man said "But I have an idea if we can prevent him from using a rock wall to shield himself."

"You could throw another rock at his head," Site suggested. Mega Man abruptly grabbed Site's wrist and scanned through the battle chip choices. Meanwhile Lord Terra was approaching them, albeit slowly due to the loss of his treads. "What are you looking for?" Site asked.

"That!" Mega Man cried, stopping on an image of a cube of rock "Use that, see if it works." They jumped out from behind the pillar and Site tapped the image of the block.

"Rock Cube!" the human boy shouted and held his hand up, palm out, towards the Guardian. A cube of rock like on the battle chip image appeared over Lord Terra's head and promptly smashed right down on him. Once again the massive Maverick was stunned, but Mega Man could tell it wouldn't last as long this time.

"Site! Remember the gap in the path? That's how we get to the virus orb," Mega Man cried. Site realized what he meant and stood ready as Mega Man grabbed him and hurled him upwards at the thirteen foot robot. Site brought out his sword and drove it right into the glowing red orb. There was a pause as it cracked, like the world was holding its breath. Then finally the orb shattered and it seemed a sigh of relief rippled across the level. The rust fell off Lord Terra to reveal bright black and grey armour.

Site dropped to the ground and the two boys met up and high fived and cheered as Lord Terra's drill hand returned to the form of a hand and he reached up. He grabbed his 'head' and pulled it off to reveal it was only a helmet. Underneath was a far more human face with square jaw and black hair. The boys were stunned, to say the least. Mega Man had assumed these helmets were their heads. At the shocked expressions Terra burst into laughter "You honestly thought these were our heads?"

Both boys nodded meekly "So… you really _are _reploids?" Mega Man asked.

"Of course! And I must thank you for your assistance. I've already driven the virus' influence from my level. My dais will transport you to the surface, I'll let you return to your friend before I talk with you properly." Mega Man and Site looked to the dais and climbed atop it. Mega Man felt a tingling run through him that was all too familiar; it was a teleporter. The world before him turned to white for a moment and when it cleared they were back in the village. The sky was clear and blue, and he felt Glace's arms wrap around his and Site's necks, pulling them both into a big hug.

"Welcome back guys," she said, releasing them "Now tell me all about it."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"So Lord Terra was able to resist the virus?" Glace asked with surprise.

"Yeah, we were surprised too. But he couldn't fight it off completely, just hold it at bay," Mega Man explained.

"That's good news though!" Glace cried happily "Oh, what did you copy from Lord Terra?"

Mega Man grinned "Terrakinesis," he replied happily. His colours shifted to white and brown and he held up his hand, a nearby clump of sand followed the movement of his hand. He used his new power to hold the sand in midair and with some gestures made it swirl around the group before landing back on the ground, released from his control.

"That's pretty cool," Site said.

"Yeah, and it increases my strength," Mega Man added, flexing his barely noticeable biceps to punctuate his point.

"Shouldn't you rest a bit more?" Glace asked.

"Maybe a little, but this sun's great for my energy cells. I'm charging right up."

"So that's four down, and six left," Site said.

"That's correct," Lord Terra said, appearing right next to the group and causing all three to jump. "My thanks again to you Forebearer for releasing me from that dreadful curse," he said, giving a slight bow to the Blue Bomber.

"Aw you're welcome," Mega Man said sheepishly "You know this nanite technology is amazing, but it seems to be a great vulnerability."

"They're not really nanites," Lord Terra said.

"They're not?" Site asked.

"No, we call them that, but they're really just atoms. In actuality it's atomic manipulation achieved by a field of cyber energy filling the interior of Neo Arcadia."

"Atomic manipulation…" Mega Man muttered "That's… incredible."

"It's only achievable thanks to the Mother Elf. This control field was created by Lady Ciel, with the help of the Mother Elf and us Guardians. The unique energy in the Mother Elf was used to generate the field and to help maintain it we Guardians were given control of our city's section of the field."

"Then why call them nanites?" Mega Man asked.

"Well because they're controlled by cyber energy, nanites just sort of became slang in Neo Arcadia," Glace added.

"And the field's limited to Neo Arcadia, right?" Site asked.

"Correct. There's other things built into the building to help it work. It can't extend beyond, the Mother Elf can't bring the field with her and because of the unique energy involved, it's not possible to replicate without the Mother Elf."

"Where did the Mother Elf come from?" Mega Man asked.

"She's an anti-virus created from Zero's Maverick Virus data," Site said.

"Then who created Zero?" To this question there was a long silence which rather surprised Mega Man. He'd have thought after all this time someone would've discovered his origin, and that of the Maverick Virus.

"Nobody knows," Glace said.

"Zero was always a very guarded person," Terra added "He never told anyone more than he felt they should know."

Mega Man had some theories regarding much of this, but he was going to keep them to himself for now. It was good to know the workings of Neo Arcadia a little better though. "So… where did this current virus come from?" he asked.

"I don't know," Lord Terra sighed "Nobody knows."

Mega Man sighed "Well then the best way to find out is to keep moving. What's next?"

"The Nature level, under the protection of Lady Flora. I have to wonder how that level could be corrupted though. Lady Flora's always stood strong against evil. So perhaps you may find here level the easiest to handle."

"Alright then!" Mega Man cried "MegaMan Site! Glace! Scout! We're moving on."

"Right," the other three said.

"Wait for us!" cried three familiar voices. Out of the air appeared the small forms of Atla, Lem and Mun.

"Guess what we found out," Atla said.

"We're safe from the virus now," Mun continued.

"Yeah! That anti-virus field seems to have severed our link with the Dark Queen," Lem finished.

"What are you talking about?" Mega Man asked.

"All us cyber-elves share a link with the first of our number, the Mother Elf," Lem explained.

"Except she's become the Dark Queen now, and so all us cyber-elves were easily infected by our link to her," Atla added.

"But now, it seems Lord X has severed our link to her for the time being, and so now the virus can't get to us," Mun finished.

"There's one side-effect though," Lem put in.

"Yeah, in infected levels we can't move into cyberspace to travel, so we'll have only physical travel," Lem said.

"So no teleporting for you guys?" MegaMan Site said.

"Correct!" the elves said together.

"But we can still help," Lem said.

"We know that," Glace said "The caste restrictions on cyber-elves were lifted with the new breed created here in Neo Arcadia," the girl reploid explained to Mega Man and Site.

"Yeah, we used to be able to only be of certain caste; they were Nurse, Animal and Hacker," Lem continued "Now we can switch between them at will and we no longer need to fuse with a robot to be effective since we have bodies of our own now."

"Let's get going, I'll explain the types of cyber-elf as we go," Glace said "Excuse me Lord Terra, would you be able to give us a path throught the desert?"

"Of course Glace," Lord Terra said, and quite suddenly a road of flattened out sand appeared and in the next second was covered by pavement. "Now go on, Lady Flora awaits."

"So Nurse Elves heal, Animal Elves fight and Hacker Elves perform spy and sabotage, right?" Mega Man asked. They'd been talking for the last hour about cyber-elves and had also made good progress.

"Yup," Glace replied "They used to only have effects when fusing with a robot and they're effects were quite different then."

"And what state are you guys in right now?" Mega Man asked the trip of cyber-elves.

"Neutral," Lem answered.

"Yeah we're not in any specific state," Mun affirmed "The Dark Elves have their own parallel castes."

"Yeah instead of Nurses they have Vampires, instead of Animal they have Beast and instead of Hacker they have Virus," Atla finished.

"Vampires drain energy, Beast is more vicious and Virus infects," Mega Man said "Right?"

"Yes," Glace confirmed "Virus Elves can only infect computer systems though; they can't infect robots or humans."

They walked in silence for a time then began talking about the world outside, specifically the current world superpower Grand Metropolis, a massive city covering much of what was formerly Russia. It was where most of the world's population had moved to after the World Restoration Project reached its close. There was also the nation of Innerpeace not too far north from their current location in Neo Arcadia which was well known for being a bit of a contradiction as far as its name went. It was known for being a very small and very chaotic nation, frequently under threat by various gangs of Mavericks.

"No colonies on other planets then?" Mega Man asked.

"No," Site said with a sigh "You thought we'd have colonies on other planets by now?"

"Well… yeah," Mega Man said "That's where Duo came from so… I've wanted to go there."

"Maybe you will one day," Site said "Maybe I will. I'm going to live a long time."

"How do you know that?" Glace asked.

"Well eventually I'll become a humanoid and benefit from the increased lifespan that brings."

"That humanoid business makes me uneasy," Mega Man said "I don't like robots and humans giving up what makes them each unique, and it seems to increase the world's vulnerability to attack."

"I know," Site said "But there're advantages that I think outweigh the negatives."

Mega Man shrugged. He wasn't sure about that, but he wasn't going to argue right now. The road had been moving a bit like a treadmill, speeding up their progress and it helped. The wall of the city was approaching and at last the group stepped onto the elevator and began their ascent to the next city. "So you three are sure you're immune to re-infection?" Mega Man asked the cyber-elves.

"Positive!" they shouted together.

"In fact we've passed into the virus field already," Mun said.

Moments later the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened to show… a jungle; a lush, steamy jungle thick with humidity and heat. The foliage was lush and green and Mega Man was surprised to see real birds flying amongst the trees. "Are these animals real?" he asked.

"Yup! Genetically engineered, all of them," Mun said happily.

"Don't think this whole area is jungle. There's also a temperate forest, a tropical savannah, and a temperate grassland, and at the center is the Great Tree where Lady Flora lives," Lem said.

"So we have to head for the center then," Mega Man said. Thus far he couldn't see any signs of corruption. Everything looked peaceful and happy.

"I always thought walking through the jungle would be difficult," Site said "But it's pretty clear."

"The canopy prevents most plants from getting much sunlight, so the understory remains pretty clear," Mega Man explained as they made their way amongst the ferns and shrubs occupying the understory. Eventually they came to a river and were able to observe some of the fish in it. Yet there still seemed to be no sign of corruption, and not even any Pantheons or dark elves. "This place is so peaceful," Mega Man said to his group "There's no danger at all."

"The infection level is phenomenally low here," Lem said.

"It really is," Mun confirmed "I wonder why."

"Maybe Lady Flora's just incorruptible," Mega Man suggested.

"Greetings Forebearer," said a female voice. In front of them appeared a hologram of a woman with green-blonde hair and wearing a green and white dress. The crown of flowers atop her head marked her as Lady Flora.

"Lady Flora I presume," Mega Man said, kneeling down into a bow.

"No need for that, I must hurry. The low corruption level is indeed my doing. With my power I was able to contain the virus' presence within the Great Tree and erected a barrier around it. Yet I've struggled with it, to keep it from harming the beauty of this realm. Just as Lord Terra below however, it is a losing battle. You must come to my aid!"

"I intend to, but how were you able to send us this message? And for what purpose?"

"Once within the barrier you will face trials of a certain nature. If you pass them then you will progress, if you fail them then you will be removed instantly."

"What kind of trials?" Mega Man asked, but the hologram was beginning to fade.

"I hope to see you soon Forebearer," Lady Flora said and vanished.

"I guess we have to head for the Great Tree then," Mega Man said "Glace, you set up somewhere."

"No," the female reploid said.

"What?" Mega Man asked.

"I've had enough of doing nothing. I had a chat with Scout while you and Site were out in the desert. I don't want to just sit back and do nothing," Glace explained.

'But you can't fight," Mega Man pointed out. Glace opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Mega Man saw he'd made a valid point, but he also saw she was looking rather upset. "Next time okay?" he said "We'll think of something when we finish here."

Glace smiled "Okay, you two get going then. I'll look for one of the grasslands and set up there."

The group split up and the boys made their way towards the center of the level, while Glace moved away to find a spot to place the anti-virus field. "What kind of trials do you think she means?" Site asked after a time.

"Not sure," Mega Man said as the Great Tree came into view. It definitely earned its name, for it was a massive, massive tree easily as large as the mesa from below. However it was surrounded by a thick, dark cloud that drifted eerily around it. Not only that, but it appeared to be dry and dead within the cloud. "The poor tree," Mega Man murmured upon seeing it. They soon came right upon the tree and stood in front of the barrier that separated the virus from the rest of the Nature level.

The cloud swirled around in front of them, like it was behind glass. Sometimes it seemed to break into hundreds of small granules and blobs, swirling around like they were in water. It hardly looked safe or healthy, but they had to go in. "Ready?" Mega Man asked.

"Yup," Site answered, and they stepped forwards into the swirling cloud of evil.

Mega Man looked around to find himself in a dark wasteland. Around him the cloud swirled and the ground was lifeless and dead; nothing but parched earth, dry and dusty and ahead was the burnt, dry shape of the Great Tree. The cloud was obscuring his vision, and dropping his visor into position seemed to do no good. He could only see as far as the base of the tree, and only then because he was only several meters from it. From his position he could make out a door in the tree. "Alright Site, let's go," he said. There was no response and he looked around wildly and anxiously "Site? Site!" he called worriedly.

"Do not worry, he is safe," whispered a voice similar to Lady Flora's "The trials must be taken independently."

"No!" Mega Man yelled furiously "I will not abandon my friend."

"But you must to continue," the voice said.

"Then I won't continue until I'm allowed to continue with Site." There was an odd pause and Mega Man worried he might've jeopardized both himself and Site.

"Congratulations," the voice said abruptly "You have passed the Trial of Friendship. You have proved that friendship is more important to you than orders." Then with that MegaMan Site appeared right next to him, looking dizzy.

"Too much teleporting," Site muttered "But I told that voice I wouldn't continue alone."

"Yeah, test of friendship," Mega Man said "Well now that we're here, should we get going?"

"Yup! Onwards and upwards," Site said with a grin. The two moved on towards a small door at the base of the tree. Inside the tree was even more depressing as it sat in the process of decaying all around them. The cloud penetrated in here as well, though not as thickly. There were wood buildings carved out of the tree, or rather they seemed to be grown from the tree. To their left and right were pathways curving around against the trunk and heading upwards, eventually vanishing from view as they went through the ceiling.

"Amazing," Mega Man said in awe "An entire town made from the tree."

"It's a shame the virus has ravaged it so much," Site added sadly "Hey… who's that?" he asked, pointing ahead to a small figure sitting alone in the middle of the town. The two hurried over and saw it was a young boy, even younger than them even. He seemed about seven, and according to Mega Man's scans was a reploid.

"Hey there," Mega Man said gently as they came upon the boy, who jumped slightly at the sight of the older boys.

"Uh, um, h-hi," he said nervously.

"I'm Mega Man, and this is MegaMan Site, or Site for short," Mega Man explained "What's your name?"

"Um, Corbin," the boy said nervously.

"You don't have to be so scared," Site said as the two sat down on either side of Corbin.

"I do though," the boy said "I-I stole something."

"You stole something?" Mega Man asked curiously "What did you steal?"

The boy pulled a large, heavily bejewelled necklace with chain made of gold and platinum. One of the sapphires attached to the necklace Mega Man thought was curious. It looked like any sapphire, except for the fact that the shade of blue on it matched his armour's colour perfectly. He shrugged it off though and turned his attention back to the boy. "Why did you steal this?" he asked.

"Don't be scared," Site added, seeing Corbin's hesitation "You can tell us."

"Well… I was trying to leave Neo Arcadia, I've had enough of the mean elves and bad robots," he explained slowly "But I didn't have money for outside, so I took this from someone's house. It's a normal necklace from outside and I figured the lady who owned it here wouldn't need it.

"But then the police robots saw me take it. They always ignored me, but when they saw me take this they went crazy and started chasing me. So I came to this level and hid here in this tree. But now I'm scared to go, but I don't want to leave Neo Arcadia with nothing."

"Come on, don't be scared," Mega Man said gently and gave the boy a hug for comfort "We're here to help."

"Y-you are?" the boy asked.

"Of course," the Mega Men said together.

"Why don't you just ditch the necklace?" Mega Man asked "All the levels below have been cured of virus infection, so you don't need to leave Neo Arcadia."

"They have? I don't?" Corbin asked joyously. His tone suddenly turned suspicious though as he asked "Do you just want the necklace for yourselves?" he asked.

"Nope," Mega Man answered simply.

"Me neither," Site added.

"We don't need it, and we don't really want it. Especially if Pantheons are after whoever's holding it," Mega Man added.

"But we'd make sure it got back where it belonged," Site added "When everything's all fixed up."

"We'll escort you to the elevator if you like," Mega Man offered further as Corbin dropped the necklace on the ground. Mega Man kicked it into a hut as the three of them stood. "So what do you say?"

"I say… congratulations!" Corbin said with a broad grin.

"What?" Site asked.

"Oh no, I see where this is going," Mega Man murmured.

Corbin changed in appearance, his skin turning creamy pale as his eyes became black a shiny. He was a cyber-elf the whole time, and a good one no less. "You've passed the Trial of Kindness," he said "You've gone out of your way to help someone and not wanted anything in return."

"Um… thanks," Mega Man stuttered "If you're a humanoid elf then weren't you once a reploid?"

"Yup," Corbin said with a grin "Oh and you may not have wanted a reward, but you're getting this one whether you like it or not." The sapphire that Mega Man had noticed earlier appeared in the air in front of him, glowing blue. "It has a special purpose, as a key of sorts. You'll need it eventually I'm sure." With that he vanished with a giggled, leaving the two Mega Men standing alone in the village. Mega Man opened his gauntlet compartment and placed the sapphire inside, and closed it up again.

"So I guess we should head up the path then," Site said, looking back at the curving paths.

Mega Man grinned and said "Quite literally then, onwards and upwards."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Both boys were quite shocked when the next level of the Great Tree was not a natural village carved from the tree, but an early twenty-first century commercial district. Mega Man rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but he wasn't. "This is so weird," he said "It looks just like home." There were paved roads, parked cars, sidewalks, and no sign of the occasional high-tech spires or labs that littered New Metro. There was even a little corner store identical to one of the ones he himself always visited in the old days.

"So this is what things were like in your time?" Site asked "I mean, we've modelled our cities after old styles like this, but no power spires? What are those things?" he asked, pointing to a power line.

"Those are power lines," Mega Man said "They were how electricity used to be transported, before 'power spires'."

"Oh… so do you think this is set up for one of our trials?" Site asked.

"Definitely," Mega Man said "Question is though; where's the trial?"

"Let's just wander around. The last two were sprung on us out of nowhere," Site noted.

"Yeah, so let's just look for the exit, and the trial will pop up eventually." For Mega Man though this was a chance to enjoy a world like where he'd been born, or created. He was drinking in the sight of what could've passed for his original home. Once again he was hit by a pang of sadness as he remembered how much time had passed since his shutdown, and how many people had come and gone. Most of all he missed Dr. Light. His sister, Roll, could be restored if he found the necessary elements. His father was a human though, and he was gone forever.

"You okay Mega Man?" Site asked upon seeing his friend's saddened expression.

"Just memories," Mega Man answered distantly. Before he knew it though he was starting to cry as, once again, the full weight of his position in life dropped on him. He was a relic of an old age, and he felt utterly alone. None of his friends now understood that feeling. How could they? The only one he could think of who understood was Glace, but she'd never been outside Neo Arcadia. He hadn't even noticed he'd sat down on the road in something approaching despair.

Now it was his turn to be given a comforting hug as Site sat down next to him. "It's okay Mega Man," he whispered "I know the memories hurt, but be glad you have them." The two stayed still for a time as Mega Man finished crying and began to get his composure together again.

"You're right," he said eventually "I do have my memories, and I have my friends now. I just… wasn't sure you could understand how I feel."

"I try," Site said "I know it's hard, but we're here to help."

"You're right," Mega Man said again and a smile managed to break through his sadness. "We should get going, we have a trial to pass and several more above," he said as he wiped his eyes.

"Actually you've passed one of this level's trials," said the voice of a cyber-elf. Another ascended reploid cyber-elf appeared with a smile on her face. A her this time, a girl about their age with blonde hair and a similar, though less decorative, robe to X.

"But… how does this show my purity?" Mega Man asked.

"This trial is one that is customized for the taker," the elf explained "It has no particular name, but I like to think of it as the Trial of Emotion. It shows that the things that you've lost matter to you. It shows your purity by being able to generate emotions. I'm sure you've met those who are corrupt and have suppressed their emotions, or will outright destroy whatever it is that reminds them of their loss. You instead show your sadness and your strength by being able to rely on your friends to help you overcome the pain."

Mega Man couldn't help but smile "You're right, I do have great friends." He saw Site grin and give him a thumbs up.

"There is still another trial to be taken here though," the elf said and vanished without further explanation. Quite suddenly the entire place was filled with people. Mega Man had hardly noticed how abandoned the place had been initially. There had been cars, but they were only parked. Now all of a sudden the place was bustling like any suburban location. That was to say it wasn't crowded, but there was still a significant amount of people.

"So the next trial is something to do with all these people?" Site asked.

"Apparently," Mega Man answered. They wandered the streets of the small town, for that's what it was, and inspected a lot of the various places. There was a grocery store, some houses and apartment buildings, and other simple things you'd find in a small town.

"Maybe in six thousand years all towns and cities will be back to looking like this," Site said.

"What? Nah, I think humans will be spread across the galaxy by then. The First Great Earth Empire," Mega Man replied.

"Maybe you'll live to see it," Site half-joked.

"That'd be kinda cool, I'd like to be a part of making that happen. I don't know if I could handle living that long though."

"Here's an idea," Site started "What if humanoids make a planetoid space station orbiting Earth and it's like, a paradise where they all live."

"Why would they leave the Earth?" Mega Man asked.

"Well, um, maybe it's flooded. Yeah, it's flooded and populated by artificially created humans made by humanoids to live on the planet as kind of like an experiment to see if it's habitable. But then the space station shuts down and one of its security units ends up living amongst the artificial humans and having no memory of the space station. So these artificial humans become the new humans and create a new society built around archaeology."

Mega Man stared at his friend in silence before saying "You have quite an imagination Site."

"Thanks," Site said "But come on, you never know."

"You're right. Oh, but where would these artificial humans live?" Mega Man asked.

"Well… there'll still be land, just less of it. And the archaeologist groups would use little airships."

"Clever," Mega Man said simply. Through the air a gunshot suddenly rang out and the Mega Men were instantly on alert. "There haven't been bullet guns around for ages has there?" he asked.

"This is an imitation of hundreds of years ago, you know that," Site said.

"I know, was just curious. Now tracking the source of the gunshot," Mega Man added and began his scans of the surrounding environment. This was an easy scan really, with his recently upgraded hardware and software and an imitation of a world he'd already been centuries ahead of technologically he could easily handle anything this imitation town could throw at him. "It's at the bank," he said at last "That's predictable."

"Tell me about it," Site added as they took off, Mega Man in the lead. The bank itself was a rather typical office-looking building. Nothing special really, but Mega Man could detect a gathered crowd. He and Site threw open the doors to see a man with a pistol held at ready towards a banker. The moment they entered he swung around and fired off a shot at Mega Man. Thus was his surprise when the bullet ended up being useless and bouncing off of his armour.

In a flash Mega Man had crossed the room and to the continued shock and awe of the viewers he grabbed the man's gun and crushed it with ease, using nothing more than his bare hands. "Now that we got that out of the way, you sir are coming with me," Mega Man said strongly. Weaponless and still shocked at the ease with which a kid had beaten him, the man followed with little argument while Site waved to the group and told them the situation was under control.

The man in question was wearing a denim jacket, jeans and a balaclava to hide his face. Mega Man promptly removed this to show a shocked and troubled face framed by messy dark hair and with stubble from lack of shaving. "Wh-what are you going to do to me?" the man asked nervously.

"Well first I'm going to ask your name," Mega Man said pleasantly.

"Odil," he said sadly.

"Nice to meet you Odil, I'm Rock and this is Hub," Mega Man replied, still sounding kind.

"How can you talk so kindly to me after seeing what I was about to do?" Odil asked, looking like he was pleading with him.

"Because everyone does what they do for a reason," Mega Man said "I want to know what made you think you had to commit robbery?"

"I… don't know. My life has just been so… confusing. I can't get into college, I don't have any special skills, and I don't have any friends and my family… well I doubt they'd want to see me anymore," Odil ended sadly.

"Let's go to that park over there," Site said "You can tell us all about it. We'll both help in any way we can."

The three wandered to the nearby park and sat on the grass in some shade by a tree. Odil told them that he was only nineteen and had left home after arguing with his parents over the future he wanted. Usually he'd gotten along well with his family, but they'd wanted him to take up the family business while he wanted to go to college. However he didn't have the money to get into college and every job he worked at fired him after only a few days. Meanwhile he began wondering if he even should go to college with his self-perceived lack of significant talents.

"So you tried to rob a bank for money for college, but you don't even know if you want to go?" Mega Man asked.

"Well… I dunno. It sort of made sense this morning."

"Crime is never an answer," Mega Man said sagely "And everyone has something special they can do."

"As for college I'm sure if you explained everything to your parents I'm sure they'd agree to help fund you," Site added.

"Well… I like writing blogs," Odil said.

"There you go!" Mega Man said "You could be a reporter."

"You think so?" Odil asked.

"Sure!" both kids said happily.

"Then I guess it's time for me to say congratulations," Odil said as he turned into a cyber-elf. "You have passed the Trials of Wisdom and Peace."

"Wisdom and Peace? Two trials in one?" Mega Man asked.

"In this case, yes. You've demonstrated your ability to end a situation peacefully and to help track the situation's beginnings to its roots and used knowledge and kind words to fix it."

"Th-thanks," Mega Man said with a blush.

"The Council of Nature, that is the three cyber-elves you've met, believes you are ready to head to the Sanctum. You've proven yourself more than pure enough and Lady Flora cannot hold on much longer." Odil raised his hands and ball of light appeared that he subsequently dropped on the ground in front of him where it grew into a glowing circle.

"And this leads to the Sanctum?" Site asked.

"That is correct. Now both of you hurry, save us from the Darkness."

Both Mega Men stepped into the teleport and like before the world faded to pure white as Mega Man felt himself converted into energy. Mega Man blinked as the white faded away which signalled the end of the teleport. Beside him he saw Site doing the same, but also stumbling around and finally falling right into muddy water.

"I tried to walk too soon," Site explained "And I tripped."

"Teleportation basics Site, don't move until the teleport's done," Mega Man said once he finished laughing. "We're in a swamp," he noted, looking around. There were trees standing together over the soggy, wet ground thick with moss and the occasional vine hanging between trees.

"Well you can't get more 'full of nature' than a swamp," Site said as he stood up. Above them the trunk of the Great Tree ended and looked out to the sky above, now getting dark. However massive branches still grew inside and outside the trunk wall and created a 'treetop' that still partly obscured the sky. "Where's Lady Flora?"

Mega Man couldn't tell, though there was some mist and fog drifting amidst the tall reeds and thick plant-life on the dry ground. However Mega Man noticed a distinct lack of wildlife in the swamp, and in fact there didn't seem to be any other kinds of activity either. The two worked their way out of the muck and towards the drier land. "There don't seem to be any," Mega Man started to say. However in mid sentence several Pantheons appeared from the water, moving hunched over like a werewolf and dripping with water, mud and draped in seaweed. "Ah," he finished disappointedly.

These Pantheons suddenly attacked, using claws to attack instead of weapons and fighting with surprising ferocity. For a moment both boys found themselves overwhelmed and were knocked to the ground and Site cried in pain as one of the claws slashed through the flesh just under his eye. It wasn't a terrible wound, but it was painful and it bled. Mega Man suffered wounds to his face, but none as bad as his friend's. The sound of his friend's pain, however, made him angry. Fury swam through his synthetic veins and nerves as he got to his feet, punching a Beast Pantheon right in its eyes. "Nobody hurts my friends and gets away with it," Mega Man said furiously.

His armour colours changed to brown and with his now enhanced strength he smashed away the Mavericks like they were flies. Mega Man charged at the nearest one as Site got to his feet. Before the robot could react, Mega Man had crushed its torso and its power core within. He whirled to face the remainder of the pack which charged at him. Mega Man however was charging up and he began to glow with energy. At last he slammed his fists into the ground and spikes of suddenly dry earth shot up and impaled the robots, then collapsed into mud.

At the sight of the robots all sparking and exploding Mega Man felt his rage vanish and he let the Terrakinesis charge deplete. He grinned at Site's shocked expression "Sorry you had to see that," he said.

"Don't apologize, I just... never seen you get so angry," he said, holding a hand to the bleeding wound on his face. "Was that just because of me?"

"Yeah," Mega Man admitted sheepishly "You're my friend, and I couldn't stand the sound of you getting hurt."

"Why was the earth dry?"

"I can only command earth, not water. So the earth was drawn away from the water completely for a moment. I'm going to look for a way to heal you."

Site looked amongst the remains of the robots and saw an energy capsule. He grabbed it and it vanished as his suit absorbed it. Mega Man watched as the gash on Site's face healed and vanished in seconds. "The suit's got a healing function too," Site surmised.

"Seems like it. Let's get going, we need to find Lady Flora." They continued moving, prepared for more Pantheon attacks. They came too and the two Mega Men fought them off with much more ease now that they were used to them. There didn't seem to be any sign of Lady Flora though. Even Mega Man's scans didn't seem to pick up anything. "I wonder where she is," Mega Man said at last.

"Found her," Site said abruptly, looking up. Mega Man followed his gaze and saw above them the reploid in question. She was entangled and bound by vines and was almost entirely obscured, except for the red orb that carried the virus. The vines also appeared to block his scans which would explain why he couldn't detect her. "Use Terrakinesis to create platforms," Site said.

"Sorry, that last burst kinda drained my energy for that ability," Mega Man confessed sheepishly.

"What?"

"Fully charged attack, drained all the weapon energy for it. It's a powerful ability, so powerful a fully charged attack drained it dry."

"You wasted a powerful ability like that rescuing me?" Site asked exasperatedly.

"Seems like it. We don't need that anyways, we can still jump and slash," Mega Man said with M-Sabre ready. He jumped to a tree, propelled off it and towards the vines... and was suddenly wacked away by a vine. He crashed into the mud, but quickly got to his feet and gazed up at the bundle of plants. They seemed to be agitated, shifting and fidgeting like they had a mind of their own. "Of course it wasn't going to be _that_ easy," Mega Man groaned.

"We could burn the vines," Site suggested, watching them carefully. They seemed to be defensive only at the moment.

"That might hurt Lady Flora though, and the rest of the swamp," Mega Man protested.

"I can put the fire out," Site said "I have some water-element battle chips."

Mega Man hesitated before at last agreeing with the plan. "Okay, I'll use fire, but you be ready to put it out if it gets out of control."

"I will," Site assured.

Mega Man changed colours and raised his buster "Flamethrower!" he cried and shot streams of flame at the vines, jumping up towards them. The flames caught and the first few vines that attacked him ended up being caught right in the blast. They flared up briefly and collapsed into ashes. He turned the gushing flames on the vines holding Lady Flora captive and they burst into flame as well.

When he landed he looked up to see that the vine prison repairing itself. "What the-?" Site cried, seeing the rapid regrowth of the vines.

"They must be drawing energy from her. Since the virus couldn't corrupt her directly, it simply used her as a conduit to control this layer," Mega Man explained.

"Solution?" Site asked.

"Simple, forget the vines and focus on the virus. The flames will keep the vines away and destroy the virus. Keep your water chips ready to put out any escaping flames."

"Right."

Mega Man ran to a tree and kicked off of it and flew into the air. He grabbed one of the suspension vines and rode it like a zip line. Naturally the other vines came to attack him so he blasted them with flames. They caught and burned and Mega Man switched vines and felt rather like Tarzan as he swung down the vines and burned his way to the center of the tangled web. The vines were thorned, but no more heavily than real vines and the thorns were no stronger either. As such he easily burned them away, or broke them. At last he was able to find a perch on a thick branch separate from the vines

Around Lady Flora though the vines were particularly thick and as he aimed for the virus core they moved to protect it. "Sorry if this hits you," Mega Man said. He blasted flames towards the core, occasionally swinging his buster back to burn away attacking vines. Before long the web of vines was more like a web of flames. He kept up the attack though and could hear the sounds of Site quenching the flames.

At last Mega Man saw the orb begin to crack and shortly afterwards it shattered. The vines ceased to regrow, but that left him and Lady Flora in a ball of flames and burning vines that would shortly be crashing into the ground. Mega Man grabbed her around the waist and dove through the flames and down into a nearby pond. A moment later he and Lady Flora emerged from the muddy water to see Site putting out the rest of the flames. At the same time the swirling cloud of darkness lifted and life flowed back into the swamp.

"Thank you Mega Man," Lady Flora said "And my apologies for the trials. Now I think it's time you and Site returned to Glace and got some rest."


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

When Mega Man and Site found Glace in the savannah she had a hatch on her wrist open and was fiddling with something. "Hey Glace," Mega Man said "What're you doing?"

"I'll tell you in just a moment," she said as she finished up. She closed the hatch on her wrist and the whole area went back to looking and acting supple and bendable, like real skin. "X, I think, showed up and led me to this chamber with a holographic recording by Her Majesty Mother Elf. It mentioned a chip I'd found in the room and that it gave light control abilities."

"There you go," Mega Man said happily, not sure if he really was happy about it "I said next time, and now you'll be fighting with us next layer."

"I know," Glace said with a smile "I'll finally be able to help retake my home. Though I'm not really sure what these light abilities do."

"You'll find out as we go. So you saw X?" Mega Man asked anxiously.

"Kind of, he was all blurry and ghost-like, but the silhouette matched his."

"That would be him," Lady Flora said, appearing amidst the group "And I'm glad someone has found that chip. You'll find that it should also have enhanced your control over water and ice."

"Speaking of weapons, did you manage to copy anything Mega Man?" Site asked.

"Vine shield," Mega Man said simply and his colours changed to light green with darker green on his helmet, gloves, boots and waist. Then he gestured like he was firing, but instead had both hands normal and his outstretched hand he had palm open. A number of energy vines wrapped around him and when Site rapped on them with his knuckles they were pretty solid.

Mega Man dropped the shield and grinned only to suddenly have his cheek pinched by a very pleased Lady Flora "You're so adorable when you smile," she said, forgoing her usual formal demeanour. Furthermore Mega Man soon found himself wrapped in a tight motherly hug. Which would've been fine on some other occasion, he never did have a mom. However this was the over fawning that all kids get embarrassed and annoyed about and he struggled to get loose.

"Yeah she does that," Glace giggled "It's only 'cause you're new."

"And because I'm so happy to be free," Lady Flora said, letting go of Mega Man and twirling around, with arms spread wide. "Nature doesn't like to be confined."

"So what's next?" Mega Man asked.

"Water and the Guardian Lady Aqua. I think Site you'll find that suit should help with any troubles you might have in the water."

"Alright, then we need to keep moving."

"As much as I'd like you to stay, you are correct," Lady Flora said "Before you go, let me at least refresh you." She waved a hand over Mega Man's head, and Site's and both felt a surge of relaxation pass through them. All repair and rejuvenation functions seemed to have been activated and accelerated for a moment. Mega Man felt like he'd had a good night's sleep all at once, and Site looked like he felt the same.

"You know I almost forgot, what happened to the cyber-elves?" Site asked.

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about them," Glace said "Have you seen them Scout?"

"I have actually," the robot-dog replied, Mega Man often forgot about her too. "They slipped away when we got here to explore."

"And we're back!" Atla cried as they reappeared.

"Yep yep," Lem added "We're ready to move."

"Teleport!" Mun finished and quite suddenly Mega Man felt the all too familiar sensation of teleportation. They rematerialized in a temperate grassland, much cooler than the savannah they were in previously.

"Let's get going," Mega Man said "But first let me reiterate the rules."

"Rules?" Glace asked.

"If you tag along then you'll all promise to do what I say," Mega Man said sternly "Otherwise you can all go back to waiting in an anti-virus bubble."

"Y-yes, okay," Glace said, shocked by Mega Man's sudden cold and commanding attitude. The three elves however saluted with little hesitation. Glace figured they might understand the reason for this sudden change in personality and she made a mental note to ask them about it later.

"Alright then," Mega Man said with a grin, back to his usual self "To the open seas!" Then they were on the elevator heading up.

The elevator stopped looking across a rainy cliffside. There were signs that there used to be a road, but it was just barely discernible from the rest of the rubble and rock. The rain pattered down on Mega Man's armour, and he looked back to see Glace wrapping her ice blue cloak around herself. Site meanwhile wasn't bothered by it as the suit protected him from cold and wet. "Good thing we didn't come straight to this level from outside," Mega Man joked.

"Rain outside, rain inside," Site added. They both lowered their visors again to keep the rain out of their eyes. They slowly clambered down the cliffs until they reached their edge and looked out over the gray, stormy sea. In the distance was the city sitting in the middle of the sea. At the base of the cliffs they stood on this sea splashed against the rocks in large, frothy waves produced by the wind.

"If only we had Rush," Mega Man sighed sadly.

"And Scout doesn't have as much functionality as Rush," Glace said.

"And swimming would probably be a bad idea," Site finished "We don't know what dangers could take us by surprise."

Mega Man gazed across the stormy sea, his electronic brain thinking of hundreds of possibilities a second, but all being discarded as unlikely to work. There was only one that seemed remotely possible and he took a moment to analyze it. "We could try freezing a path out," he said at last.

"With water that rough I don't think that's really a good idea," Glace said.

"No, but it's the only thing I can think of given the current situation."

"Then you forgot something," the cyber-elves piped in.

"The three of us together should be able to carry you each one at a time," Atla said.

"Really?" Mega Man asked "For that distance?"

"Um... probably," Mun answered.

Mega Man folded his arms, trying to think of some kind of alternative. "Sounds good! I'll go first," he cried at last.

"Probably 'sounds good' to you?" Site asked, always amazed by his friend's recklessness.

"Sure, now shut up we need to get going," Mega Man said lightheartedly. The cyber-elves formed up into a triangular formation and between them appeared a triangular platform of light.

"Forcefield energy," the elves explained quickly as Mega Man hopped on. The sensation was strange to say the least, like standing on glass floating on air. Then the elves began moving and carrying the energy platform with them. Mega Man felt a lurch in his stomach when he looked down and saw a straight drop into stormy waters. Rain pattered against him and dripped down his visor.

As he stood there on that energy platform being pulled through the air he gazed ahead through the rain and the wind with his face set in a determined frown. It was just like that day all those years ago when he dashed out into the stormy streets in his pyjamas to get to the local outpost of the Ministry for the Control of Robots. It was the week after his first battle, when he saved his eight brothers from Dr. Wily. However they were held accountable for their actions and sentenced to incineration. He couldn't let that happen and arrived at the outpost to argue their case.

"They thought I was just a little boy," Mega Man murmured.

"What was that?" Atla asked.

"Nothing," Mega Man told the elf "Just memories."

Dr. Light and Roll arrived shortly after and helped him, neither willing to give up. When a squadron of Sniper Joes attacked the facility Mega Man and his eight brothers had all immediately acted to save it, and destroyed the Joes before they could cause any injury or extensive damage. The Ministry agreed to release the eight robots and although the rain kept up that night, the warmth and comfort Mega Man had felt at home with his whole family there was one of the best memories he had.

It wasn't just his father being gone that weighed on him. He'd begun to realize that. It was his entire world being gone. He had nothing where he'd awoken, it was all gone. His younger brothers stolen, his sister destroyed and his older brother had been missing since well before shutdown. The world was changed and everyone and everything he knew was gone. The thoughts weighed on his mind, but he stuffed them aside and returned his attention to the matters at hand.

Mega Man was surprised to notice he was coming upon the city already. "You guys move fast," he commented.

"Best service on Cyber-Elf Airlines," Mun joked. The elves came down to a broken road that had clearly been part of a bridge. Mega Man hopped off and the elves flew back across to help the others cross.

Meanwhile Mega Man inspected the city. It was kind of like a massive oil rig, with its framework and the city foundations made of some kind of plastic-metal hybrid. All of the buildings were made of this substance, though many were also covered over in more conventional looking materials. There were also several spots that looked sort of like entrances to subways, but Mega Man's scans told him they led underwater, but were currently sealed off. "Sealed off entrances to an underwater location," Mega Man summed up to himself "So that would mean Lady Aqua is underwater somewhere."

Mega Man considered leaving his companions to explore himself. However he couldn't bring himself to do so, and figured they'd be in more danger if he left them alone. He contented himself with beginning his investigation immediately, looking for ways underwater and some idea of what was down there. He began by pressing one of the ear-amplifiers on his helmet to the ground. He could hear the sounds of turbines and propellers working underwater. "So we were right to not swim," he said as he lifted his head from the ground.

He stood and moved to the nearest underwater entryway and looked over the sealed doors covering the entrance to the box shaped passage. It seemed an odd shape for something going underwater, but Mega Man figured that it was only box shaped here and circular inside. As for opening the doors that was something Mega Man couldn't figure out how to do, and he didn't really want to break it.

"What're you doing?" Site asked he arrived and joined his friend.

"Trying to open this door," Mega Man said "It leads underwater and that happens to be where our enemies are."

"We could just jump off the city's edge," Site suggested.

"Yeah, but these things were built for a reason, and I'd like to find out what that reason is," Mega Man said "If it were simply getting underwater than there'd be no point in them. Therefore they were built to lead somewhere specific, and that somewhere is where Lady Aqua is."

Hub gaped several times, but couldn't come up with an argument. He'd been beaten by his friend's solid logic, and he couldn't see any flaw in the argument at all. "Well have you got any ideas on how to open it?"

Mega Man shook his head "I've looked for computer terminals, interfaces, and even just doorknobs. There's no way to open it besides breaking it, but I don't want to try that just yet."

Hub joined him and they still could find nothing. They even tried knocking in a variety of rhythms and by this time it was pretty clear that these doors weren't going to open. So finally Mega Man shifted to Terrakinesis and with his enhanced strength he punched into the doors. They buckled like tinfoil under his monumental strength. He ripped the doors off to reveal an elevator shaft, but when he moved to try and look down he felt his head smash against something.

He stumbled back and fell on his rear and sat there dazed for several seconds. His head was spinning and throbbing from the impact. Mega Man saw a hand offering to help him up and saw it belonged to Glace. He took the offer and got to his feet and strolled back to the opening. "I guess we should've expected it not to be that easy," he said and rapped his knuckles against an energy barrier just inside the wrecked doors.

"Are you okay Mega Man?" Glace asked with concern "That was quite a thunk to the head."

"Yeah I'm fine," Mega Man said with a confident grin. "Atla! Mun! Lem!" he called.

"Yeah?" the elves said together, floating around him and sitting in front of him.

"Are these normally supposed to be blocked like this?"

The three elves shook their heads "They lead to the sub-city, it's the section of the city underwater as a kind of downtown," Lem explained.

"Then it's where Lady Aqua is," Mega Man surmised.

"Seems like it," Mun said.

"Then how do we get down there?" Site asked.

"Well," Glace said, having been inspecting the shield herself "These shields are a strengthened version of a flood containment system."

"Oh yeah!" the elves said together "We forgot!"

"Then the answer is," Atla started.

"The flood control center in city square," Mun finished.

"Why's it always the center of the city?" Mega Man asked.

"Because it's easy to remember of course," Lem said.

"And see how it's foiled our enemy's hold on the city?" Atla finished.

Mega Man sighed "Alright then," he said "Let's get going."

((()))

An hour later they'd encountered nothing more than pouring rain, sore feet, and not a sign of the Flood Control Center; although Mega Man was enjoying the opportunity to admire some of the architecture.

"We had small ocean towns in my day, but nothing like this," he muttered to himself.

"Well we do nice work," the elves boasted.

"As much as I'd like to reprimand you three on boasting, you do speak the truth," Glace said.

"Then we've done a good job of corrupting it," came a girl's voice. There appeared a humanoid girl about Mega Man's own physical age. She was obviously a cyber-elf though due to her purple-black skin, her long 'horns' and her leaf shaped eyes that glowed red. She wore black robes and a small headdress in the form of golden prongs coming from her forehead with a red gem between them. An aura of darkness seemed to sit around her and it was clear to Mega Man that this was an older cyber-elf with considerably more power.

"Who are you?" Mega Man asked.

"An adolescent cyber-elf," the elf said "My lesser elves have proven utterly incompetent in stopping your intrusion, and so her Dark Majesty decided elves of greater power were needed." She raised her hands and dark purple fire burned in them "Now feel the power of darkness!" She hurled the fire at the group who dove aside quickly, and even then only barely missed being struck.

Mega Man came to his feet and fired at the elf, but she vanished and his plasma bolts fizzled out in midair. He gazed around for her, and made sure to make a three-sixty scan to make sure she wasn't behind him. Just as he finished though he saw black flames hurtling towards his face. The attack came too suddenly for him to react and they struck him head on.

There was a searing, burning pain that spread across his face and left him rolling on the floor with his hands over his face. The pain was unbearable and felt nothing like normal fire. This was almost unnatural and more like poison or acid than flame. Rather abruptly he felt his hands on something hard, not soft. He pulled his hands away from his face and the shock expression on site's face was all he needed to see to know that his skull was showing. That is to say his framework was showing, and though it behaved like real bone, it was considerably stronger and looked metallic, though still white. Also his eyeball showed, and it was like a real eyeball.

Still he could function normally, though with great pain. His colours changed to light green with dark green trim and he shot a number of 'vines' at the cyber-elf, who was hovering overhead with a triumphant look on her face. The vines caught her by surprise and before she could react she was bound by them as Mega Man drew her down. She couldn't teleport either, Mega Man was sure the vines prevented it

Mega Man's usual determined, courageous expression looked rather sinister and horrific with his half-burned face. He stopped hauling the elf in and instead used the offensive ability of the vines. Hundreds of huge thorns suddenly bristled along them and impaled the elf several times over. She gasped in surprise and vanished like all the other elves. Mega Man then turned the vines off and returned his attention to his face.

"Oh my goodness," Glace said, rushing over to him and quickly embracing him. "What do we do? You're hurt badly. You need a roboticist or something."

"Glace!" Site called rushing over to her and the woozy Mega Man. Mega Man raised his head from Glace's shoulder to see the shining, transparent form of X.

"Use your light Glace," came X's voice "Then search for the protection against the dark flames."

"What do you mean!" Glace cried, but X was fading and finally he was gone.

"We should get him out of the rain Glace," Site said.

Mega Man's visor was damaged and melted, but he'd moved it out of the way after being struck and so they could get a clear view of his face. "My auto-repair... can't handle this," he said "Not in this condition. We don't... have time for it... to repair."

"Hush Mega Man, don't waste your energy," Glace said as she and Site carried him into a nearby house, with Scout and the three elves following.

"I never thought I'd be glad these houses were abandoned so quickly that they weren't locked," Glace murmured. Mega Man had passed out so she and Site brought him up some stairs and down one of the halls to a bedroom and laid him down. She pulled his helmet off to get a better look at the wound. There was blood flowing across his metallic skull too, though much of it had been burned away.

"Glace, remember what X said; use your light," Site said, setting up the anti-virus emitter which he'd gotten from Scout. "Your light powers, I bet they can heal."

"How?" Glace asked.

"I don't know, but maybe try using it to energize his nanites."

With no other options available Glace placed her hand on Mega Man's chest and focused on the power of light flowing through her and into her friend, healing him and energizing him. It wasn't truly light that she was using, at least she didn't think so. Then again she wasn't sure what to think anymore. Whatever the energy was, she looked to her friend's face to see it rapidly healing; blood vessels covering over the metallic skull, and then synthetic muscle and skin. Soon enough he looked good as new and Glace lifted her hand from his chest.

Now she was feeling rather tired out from the effort of healing him; it took more energy than she'd thought. She didn't care though, the sight of her restored friend made it all worthwhile. Mega Man was sleeping peacefully now, and they'd just have to wait until he woke up. "Uh oh," Site said, looking out the window "We got incoming."

Glace rushed to the window to see an army of Pantheons marching towards them, these ones with wide feet and propellers in their torsos. "They must have figured out about the anti-virus field," she said "Pantheons can enter it."

"They what!" Site asked incredulously "Why didn't you mention this before?"

"Well..." Glace started sheepishly "I never really had to deal with that problem so I never thought much of it."

"Let's go then, we gotta protect Mega Man," Site said and dashed down the stairs towards the front door. Together he and Glace stood in front of the building, ready for the oncoming army.

"I'm not sure we can handle that many," Glace said.

"I know, but all we have to do is buy Mega Man time to rest."

"He's going to be furious with us if we live," Glace said with a giggle.

"Then I'll help you live to see that," said a voice that Site recognized all too well. From the building above appeared a boy in similar armour to Site, only with rounder, black shoulder guards, a helmet with twin crests and a ridge down the center with an 'arrow' shape at the front and spikes at the side, and an overall red colour scheme. There was also a sort of yellow cape hanging from the helmet that made Lan look like he had long blond hair.

"Lan!" Site cried and hugged his brother "I'm so glad you're okay! And you found the Z-Armour!"

"Yeah, good to see you too Hub," Lan said as they broke off the hug "By the way, it's Mega Man Net now."

"Mega Man Site."

"Put that Z-Sabre to good use Net," Glace said and fired twin spikes of frost at the oncoming Pantheons.

"Let's do it bro!" Net said and jumped into battle with an energy sabre in his hand that was crackling with electricity. Taking the idea Site switched his own suit's weapons to electricity based and jumped into the fray. Meanwhile Glace fired bolts of light, which seemed to be simply white lasers, and used her frost abilities to help.

Unfortunately the enemy had numbers on their side and for every Pantheon that fell to Site's buster or Net's blade, two more seemed to appear in their place. "How you doin' bro?" Net panted after slicing through two of the Aqua Pantheons.

"Trying to stay on my feet," Site said, dodging a pair of tridents aimed at him and blasting the two holders at point-blank.

"Hang in there guys!" Glace called as her white lasers cut through more of the Mavericks. She could see it was no use though, the boys were ready to topple over

Site had no idea how long they'd been fighting, but he was getting tired out now. He blasted a maverick away before finally collapsing to the ground, seconds later Net dropped down beside him. "I can't keep going," Net panted.

"Get down!" Glace called. The boys immediately dropped onto their stomachs as what seemed to be a full sized bolt of lightning shot through the surrounding mavericks. The robots either exploded or fell to the ground in pieces.

Mega Man grinned as his friends looked up from the pile of burnt metal. With a joking tone in his voice he said "You guys are in so much trouble."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

"Glad to see you're okay Lan," Mega Man said, hopping down the front steps of the house and out into the rain. "Let me guess, you found the Z-Armour and now you want to fight."

"Yup," Lan replied "Even if you don't want me to. As long as I can help, I will."

"Alright," Mega Man agreed, having learned not to argue with determination. It felt like he was arguing with himself with Hub.

"Oh, and call me Mega Man Net," Lan said.

"Alright, Net, welcome to the team." Mega Man turned back to Glace and grinned "Thanks for the heal Glace," he said with a thumbs-up.

"No problem. It was X who told me I could do it, so be sure to thank him."

"I will."

"He also said he'd show us a way to create resistance to that dark fire."

Mega Man folded his arms as he thought. "Yeah that's nasty stuff, whatever it is. I'm lucky I'm a robot, if Net or Hub got hit they'd be toast." At last he looked to the elves "Any ideas you three?"

"Well," Atla began. "Lord X might have been meaning the Light Shields."

"They were developed during the Neo Arcadia Civil War by the reploids to protect themselves against the dark fire," Mun continued.

"But most were destroyed by the Mavericks, and none of us know where there might be any left," Lem finished.

"Well there might be a hidden cache somewhere just like before," Mega Man said "So let's keep our eyes peeled."

"Glace might be able to help us," Site suggested.

"What? Me?" Glace asked.

"Yeah, your light powers," Net said "You might be able to make substitute light shields."

"Give it a shot Glace," Mega Man said. He watched her focus with her hands clenched against her chest, like she was praying. She glittered with light and then held up her hand and three jets of light poured out like a fountain and flew into the three boys. Mega Man felt a comforting warmth around him and saw the faint glowing of the light shield around him. "Good job Glace!" he cried happily. "We knew you could do it?"

"You're awesome Glace," Net added "Now let's go."

"Hold on guys," the elves said together.

"What's up?" Mega Man asked.

"We did an analysis of those shields just now," Atla started.

"Yeah, and they're not as strong as the real light shields," Mun continued

"They should protect you, but they'll vanish when hit by dark fire and normal attacks will go right through them," Lem finished.

"So what you're saying is we should still look for the real ones," Mega Man surmised.

"Correct!" the elves affirmed together.

"Then let's get moving!" Mega Man cried and the group started moving towards the city's center.

Mega Man didn't really expect their trek towards the barrier control center to be hazard free. Naturally he was right as Aqua Pantheons crawled out of the water wherever possible. Besides the edges of the massive platform the city was built on it also had a series of canals criss-crossing it that acted as roads. Mega Man found himself distinctly reminded of "Venice!" he said out loud.

"What?" Net asked.

"This city, it reminds me of Venice. Father was once invited there for the European RoboCon. He was showcasing some of the technology he used in his robots, and of course he took his two finest models," Mega Man added proudly.

"RoboCon? A convention about robots?" Net asked.

"Robots were much newer back then," Site explained to his brother "Mega Man was one of the most advanced in the world."

"I think you still are one of the most advanced in the world," Net added "Even I've heard of Dr. Lumin."

"What about him?" Mega Man asked.

"He's brilliant! He was one of the best roboticists in the world, and that's coming from our dad who's no slouch either," Net explained, but paused to cut down an Aqua Pantheon that had crawled out of a nearby canal.

"He was called 'the next Dr. Light'," Site continued "Then something happened, nobody's sure what because it's all classified. Then Dr. Lumin resigned and sort of vanished from the news. Apparently he became a small time archaeologist."

"Wow," Mega Man said in awe. He made a mental note to ask his foster father more about this, he hadn't known. Then again he'd only been awake for about a week, though it felt so much longer. The life of a warrior always seemed to move fast.

They crossed bridges, shot down Pantheons bearing light and heavy busters, though they most commonly wielded swords that were jagged and organic looking. Then of course there were the cyber-elves who mostly took the forms of humanoids with fish-like features including gills and fins on their backs. Despite the numbers the group blasted and slashed their way through the hordes water terrors and at last came upon a large, rounded building in the middle of a large city square. "Now comes the 'getting in' part," Mega Man said as he noticed the door had an electronic lock, and the doors themselves were thick, sliding doors. "Don't skimp on security around here do you?" he said.

"The security was all upgraded by the Dark Queen," Glace explained, turning to see Pantheons and dark elves alike swarming from the canals.

"I hope you can open it," Site said.

"I can open anything," Mega Man bragged "But I need time, and you'll need to buy me that time."

"Why does this seem familiar?" Site asked.

"Yeah we did this earlier," Mega Man noted, already getting to work "And we need to do it again, so get to it."

"Don't worry Mega Man," Glace said "We'll buy you as much time as we can."

"We'll see if we can help with the door!" the elves cried and flew to the door and began inspecting it up and down.

"Hikari brothers and the reploid princess against hordes of Mavericks and dark elves," Net said "Let's do it." In a flurry of strikes he brought his glowing sabre slashing through several of the robots, and continued on, leaving piles of burnt scrap metal behind.

"You're getting good at that," Site noted. He followed up with a multitude of buster shots and took out his own share of Maverick Pantheons. He blasted his way through the ranks to his brother and the two stood back-to-back. "What do you say Net? He who destroys the most is the winner?" Site asked.

"You're on bro!"

"You keep an honest count!" Site said and then they were off.

Glace meanwhile was doing her best to destroy any Pantheons who came her way. She found battle to be rather frightening, but she'd been frightened for fifty years and now she was facing her fears. Plus she knew it was the right thing to do, to fight to free all those enslaved by this dark virus. From meeting Mega Man she'd gained the strength to fight, and that's what she would do. So she fought on, sending bolts of light lancing through the dark elves and spikes of ice impaling the mavericks.

Mega Man meanwhile fiddled with the electronic lock. It was password based and his fingers flew across the keypad as he tried a whole variety of passwords. "Any leads?" he asked the elves.

"No, but I have an idea," Atla said. He grinned and began to glow and before Mega Man could react Atla had flown right into his body. He felt a strange surge of power within himself and a surge of knowledge. He held out his palm towards the keypad and several arcs of blue electricity flowed into the keypad. He was directly interfaced with the lock, and it took him seconds to figure out the correct password and open the door. Then as quickly as it had come, the surge of power vanished and Atla reappeared.

"What was that?" Mega Man asked the now tired looking Atla.

"Cyber-elves' original purpose, and our special skill," Atla answered.

"We're designed to fuse with robots to increase their abilities," Mun continued.

"Our earlier models usually died when that happened, it took all their energy and they'd return to cyberspace," Lem finished.

"All the elves here now are a new and much improved kind. We can use our fusion ability as much as we want, though it tires us out," Atla added.

"Alright. Hey guys! I got the door open!" he called to his friends.

"I'm coming," Glace said "You go help the Hikari twins."

"Already on it Glace," Mega Man said, passing her with sabre in one hand and buster in the other. He tore a path through the Pantheons, slashing and firing with the Electric Bolt ability. Robot after robot fell to his blade or buster and at last he reached the Hikaris, who were holding their own surprisingly well.

"Oh hey Mega Man!" Net said.

"Hope you're here to bail us out," Site said "And quick before Net catches up."

"I'm the one winning!" Net protested.

"You can compare counts when you're not risking death," Mega Man said "Now move! I got a level two charge shot ready and waiting." The twins destroyed a few more mavericks and then began moving back towards the door, using their enhanced jumping to clear the straggling robots. "Alright," Mega Man murmured "Super Bolt!" he cried and fired a massive bolt of electricity that blasted through the robots, and arced to all mavericks nearby. Satisfied by the sight of the robots toppling over en masse, Mega Man dashed for the door, using his jet boots to increase his speed. He slid to a halt within with his friends and with a quick press of a button on the inside, the doors slammed shut.

((()))

Within the building Mega Man and his friends stood in the lobby, but swiftly carried on down a hallway and to a rather small room with large plasma screens and a large control desk.

"Hey the Electric City's working!" Atla said.

"These computers are running at full strength, they were running on auxiliary power the last fifty years," Mun added.

"Yeah, all of Neo Arcadia's resources were being used in the construction of the Dark Queen's army," Lem finished.

"So the shields ran on auxiliary power, but it seems the canals run on the Electric City's output," Mega Man said as he looked through the computer files "And the canals can rise up to become normal roads of sorts."

"Yeah, it was for maintenance and stuff," Atla explained. Mega Man's fingers flew across the controls with electronics skill that only another electronic could possess. Mere minutes had passed since Atla spoke and Mega Man stepped back and grinned.

"Problems solved. Shields are down and the canals are up, that should keep the Mavericks away from us for a while."

"You're good," Net said.

"What can I say?" Mega Man said "But come on, we can't waste this opportunity to move."

The group moved from the control center and crossed the now risen canals. Unfortunately there were still Mavericks roaming the city, though their reinforcements had stopped. Mega Man blasted the robots out of the way as they searched for a Sub-city entrance. When they did find one, they found descending it quite easy. The elevator was a large circular platform that descended through a force field. As they descended they were able to look out over the Sub-city.

Contrary to the more contemporary appearance of the above city, the Sub-city looked like a massive coral reef turned into a city. Spires and domes of colourful coral flowed together, with the faint glowing white of the air field twisting and turning throughout the city. Mega Man's eyes wandered along the skyline to the largest building of all, a complex fusion of coral spires, domes and walls. "That would be where Lady Aqua is I imagine," Mega Man said. He also took note of the fact that the air field did not seem to lead up to it.

While the suits would provide his humans friends with air, and he and Glace did not need to breathe, the water would still slow them down and make them more vulnerable. This problem seemed a particular problem when Mega Man considered the design of the Aqua Pantheons; the propellers in their chests would easily give them a speed advantage in the water.

The elevator stopped and the group stepped off onto a stone road running into the Sub-city. No sooner had they stepped off though than they were surrounded by three rather large and very angry looking creatures. Like in the Nature level the sight of actual organic animals surprised Mega Man, but his surprise was heightened when he realized what they were. Large, broad bodies with four paddle-like flippers and a short tail, opposite their long necks, long heads and covered entirely in scales. "Those are plesiosaurs," Mega Man said with awe.

"Part of Neo Arcadia's genetic resurrection program," Glace explained.

"You can explain when we're not about to get eaten!" Net cried, readying his sword and eyeing the sharp teeth that the creatures were baring.

"Drop the sword," Mega Man ordered abruptly, to which Net promptly did, surprised by Mega Man's tone. "Easy there," the blue android said softly to the reptiles, his arms held out and palms raised as he approached one of them a little. "We're not going to hurt you." As he approached the plesiosaur it gnashed its teeth at him and so he backed up a bit.

"I don't think they're listening," Site said. Aqua Pantheons appeared outside the air area, zooming through the sea. Their propellers were whirling at high speed and made trails of bubbles behind them. They swerved in their swim paths to head towards the kids and reptiles.

"Living creatures must be destroyed," one of the robots said in a rather emotionless way.

"I don't think so!" Mega Man yelled and fired off two shots from his buster. The Pantheon he targeted collapsed into burnt bits of metal as the heated plasma struck it. Between the four of them they made short work of the Pantheons. The plesiosaurs meanwhile seemed to have calmed down and Mega Man noticed this. "Yes, we're fighting those bad robots too. I'm a good robot, and Glace is a citizen," he explained, hoping the creatures could at least partly understand him.

It seemed to work as the creatures waddled away from them like seals and allowed the group to pass. Mega Man took a moment to bow to the reptiles in thanks, then took off down the path, leading his friends onward. "Good job Mega Man," Glace said "You defended those poor animals despite the danger they could've posed."

"I like animals, and I don't wish to see them harmed," Mega Man explained "Hear that Net!"

"What? I wasn't sure what to do," Net said in defense.

"That would describe you most of the time," Site teased.

"No! I'm just relaxed most of the time," Net replied.

"Alright," Mega Man interrupted, preventing the argument from continuing. They were entering the city and moving through the streets, protecting by the air field. Most of the buildings however were outside the field and surrounded by water. "This would be a great time to have Rush around," Mega Man lamented. "Can you do any kind of vehicle modes Scout?" he asked the often silent robot dog.

"My apologies Forebearer, but my functions are limited to search and rescue on land only," she replied.

"Don't worry," the elves said together "We'll think of something."

"If we're in buildings we won't have to worry," Site noted.

"Yeah, the Pantheons won't be able to use their motors in enclosed spaces," Glace agreed.

"But we only really need to get to one building, and that's the palace. But the road to the palace is in the open."

"Look!" Net cried and pointed to outside the air field. There, swimming around the outside of the field were the plesiosaurs. And swimming with them was a robot with a sort of Pantheon look to it, but with an actual face whose mouth was covered by some kind of microphone or something. Mega Man couldn't really tell, but he thought the face looked kind of familiar.

The robot pointed at them and made a gesture like he wanted them to follow him. He began swimming over the streets and Mega Man had everyone hurry and follow along. The route was lacking in obstruction though; dark elves and mavericks appeared only to be swiftly shot down. Mega Man wasn't going to let his only lead get away, though he noticed the robot seemed to wait for them. He also noticed the city becoming more rustic as the buildings thinned out, and yet they were closer to the castle.

The city soon gave way to a large kelp forest as the sea floor rose up a bit. Still, walking amongst the bases of the massive stalks of giant kelp was a surreal experience for Mega Man, as well as for his friends. The air field in this area, much smaller and cruder than in the city, wove amongst the kelp, trying not to interfere with the former ecosystem as much as possible. However the dark power permeating the tower had left the kelp forest abandoned and dying, like all the natural areas in Neo Arcadia.

At last they came to a stop as the air field came to its end in a clearing amidst the kelp. They remained within it as the aquatic reptiles and their robot friend descended through the water and into the air field. "Glad to see you made it," the robot said as he walked into the air field.

"Who are you?" Mega Man asked.

In response the robot glowed white all over and when the light faded there was the familiar form of Justin. "Hey guys!" he said cheerfully.

"Justin?" Mega Man asked "But how?"

"Well, not exactly. I _am _who you knew as Justin, but it's not who I really am," Justin said. He glowed white again and when it faded there was a reploid standing there who, despite looking younger, was familiar to all.

He was garbed in a skin-tight dark grey, almost black, bodysuit. Over that he wore an open armour-cloth vest that was a lighter shade of grey, though still fairly dark. The open vest showed a blue gem or light on his lean chest. Over his shoulders sat fairly small shoulder-guards that were the same grey as his vest. This same grey carried over to his sleek and rounded lower arm guards that had a line of dark red trim on the outside that led to a red wedge-shaped spike at his elbows. He wore no gloves though, only the bodysuit covered his hands. The same pattern as the arm guards carried into his armoured boots which were knee-high and had a similar rounded, sleek shape and similar red spikes at the tip of the boots and also at his knees. There was an additional red line on the backside.

Covering his waist was a similar type of white armour to what Site and Net were wearing, but with the addition of a pair of crossed white armour-belts that held a pair of gun holsters. Finally there was his helmet that was the same lighter dark grey as the rest of his armour, but with a large red section at the front that became a sort of arrow shape with the more angular shape of the rim. In the middle of this red section was a second blue gem and over his ears were a pair of large, white spikes with red trim on the inside. Showing from under his helmet though was a large spiky ponytail of brown hair that stuck out almost directly backwards. Over his nose was a pair of scars that formed an 'x' shape.

"Hey guys, my real name is Axl."

_Note: Sorry it took so long, got busy with alot during the interim. I largely based Axl's new appearance on this picture at deviantART: .com/?qh=§ion;=&q=Axl+MMZ#/d1wef55 but with some elements of the original Axl._


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

"Axl!" the group cried almost in unison.

"Yup, the one and only hero of the Maverick Wars," Axl said with a cocky grin.

"You mean besides my brother?" Mega Man asked cheekily "And Zero? And that girl, um, Alia?"

"Alright, alright _one _of the heroes of the Maverick War," Axl amended with some mock reluctance "But come on, I'm the one who kept X going and kept everyone happy with my great sense of humour."

"But how did you end up in Neo Arcadia? Nobody heard of you since the early days of the Elf Wars," Glace asked.

"It's a long story, way too long to chat about right now. I'm itching for some action, so get on one of these guys already," Axl replied hurriedly and gestured to the plesiosaurs.

"What?" Net asked.

"You needed a way to move through the water quickly right? That's the way."

"Ride an ancient reptile huh?" Mega Man said.

"You're not-" Site began apprehensively.

"Awesome idea Axl!" Mega Man cried while behind him Site rolled his eyes. He turned and counted up his group. There were eight of them, but he figured the elves were light enough to count as one. "Alright there's six of us, four plesiosaurs, so two to one; except the elves and Scout, they each get one. Understood?" he asked. Everyone nodded quickly. "And Axl you're going to have to change back into that aquatic robot."

"Who says you can order me around?" Axl asked with more amusement than reproach.

"I do, now do it," Mega Man ordered swiftly. Axl grinned and saluted before changing back into the aquatic robot.

"This is a Herder reploid by the way, they were in charge of communicating with animals and moving them around if need be," Axl explained as the plesiosaurs landed within the air field and everyone swung themselves up on the backs of the aquatic reptiles. "Make sure to keep a firm hold on the neck. The collars they have generate a friction field that should keep you on, but I'm not making guarantees."

Mega Man hadn't noticed the collars before, but he saw they did wear one, but they were very thin and almost invisible. He could feel the friction field under him, concentrated on the riders to keep them on, but not to obstruct with the creature's speed. He was mildly surprised to see the other rider with him was Glace and he felt a strange feeling in himself when she wrapped her arms around his waist to keep herself from falling off. The Blue Bomber shrugged the feeling off and gripped the reptile's neck firmly, but gently.

Observing the other riders Mega Man found some amusement in seeing Site gripping his mount's neck rather tightly while Net only gripped his brother's waist loosely. Scout was sitting atop her mount and, according to Glace, she could also generate a friction field which made up for her lack of arms. The elves looked completely relaxed, like riding ancient reptiles was normal.

"Okay our target is the front entrance," Mega Man called.

"I like the way you think," Axl said with a grin.

"But isn't that dangerous?" Site asked, preparing his suit for underwater operations.

"Yes, but we can do it," Mega Man said synching up his communications with the suits "The outside world has gone too long without my attention already; I want to bring this mission to a finish."

"Are everyone's underwater communications ready?" Glace asked. There was a round of yes's from everyone in response.

"Then let's do this," Mega Man said "Tell em to move Axl!"

Axl said something through the microphone covering his mouth and the animals pushed themselves back into the water and took off. Though not astoundingly fast, they were faster than any of them could've moved through the water. As Mega Man has expected a squadron of Aqua Pantheons appeared from the castle and the city to intercept them. Not only that, but aquatic dark elves appeared as well, taking forms of eels, small sharks and other animals. "We got incoming!" Net cried.

"I'm on it," Mega Man said, firing plasma shots at robots and elves alike. Each robot collapsed and exploded while each elf vanished. "Come on Site!" he called. The twin in question was still gripping the reptile's neck tightly, but seemed to be easing up as he realized the effectiveness of the friction field. He aimed his buster and fired his own shots off at approaching Mavericks, while Net did what he could with the limited range of his sword.

"You know, this is kinda fun," Site said as he blasted another robot out of the water. "Not the fighting, the ride."

"I knew you'd warm up to it," Axl said.

The squad of elves and Mavericks at last broke apart and began retreating, as Mega Man and Site shot plasma bolts at them as they retreated. The elves began vanishing and Mega Man smirked as they continued moving onwards. That was until a groan rumbled through the water. The plesiosaurs came to a stop and paddled in place, looking around fearfully. The cyber-elves also seemed rather frightened, which was odd considering how upbeat they'd been thus far.

"Did you hear that?" Atla asked nervously. Another groan echoed through the water.

"I heard that one!" Mun cried. Mega Man looked around and saw they were what appeared to be north of palace, while the front entrance was on the eastern side where the city circled around to the south, and the kelp forest was to the west. Further to the north Mega Man saw a large drop-off into darkness. Then from the trench appeared four massive tentacles, each as long as an aircraft cruiser and as wide a large submarine. Then another four appeared, followed by two slightly longer ones tipped with massive claws.

"The Kraken!" Lem cried in terror as a massive octopus-like body followed the array of giant tentacles. The creature altogether was almost half the size of the castle and dwarfed them.

"They unleashed the Kraken!" Mega Man cried in a joking tone. "None of you ever saw Fight of the Gods?" he asked to blank faces. "Nobody?"

"Come on Forebearer, this is serious!" the elves cried "It was one of a handful of successful 'Giant Elves' that were created to serve special purposes here during the peace times."

"And now it's corrupted by the virus and taken the form of the mythical Kraken," Mega Man finished. "But size doesn't mean anything to the Blue Bomber," he said with a smirk. He could already tell that despite its size, it was soft. And he knew how to handle that. "Excuse me a minute," he said, jumping off the reptile mount.

As he plummeted through the water he shifted to Terrakinesis and began charging it up. He brought his legs up and landed as the charge reached full. His eyes glowed slightly as he reached into the rock with his mind and made it form into massive spikes. The kraken was closing in on him, but it was too late for it. As it reached forwards with its tentacles it was suddenly skewered by several massive spikes of rock. It twitched and writhed before vanishing into cyberspace.

Mega Man released the charge and jumped up as the plesiosaur he'd been riding came down for him. He landed on its back and grinned to Glace. "And that's how that's done," he said as he rejoined the others. "Except I pretty much spent my Terrakinesis energy on that one, but we shouldn't need it for Lady Aqua."

"That was amazing," Axl said. "That Light sure knew what he was doing when he made his 'bots."

"Yeah thanks," Mega Man said in an off-handed. As the plesiosaurs at last dropped them off at the front gate they hopped off and turned to look into the palace. "None of you have ever seen Fight of the Gods?" he asked as they made their way into the palace, Axl returning to his normal form.

"Never even heard of it," Glace said "Is it a movie?"

"Yes! What about you two?" Mega Man asked to the twins. Both shook their heads.

"Sounds cool, but I've never seen it," Net said.

"What movies do they sell now anyways?" Mega Man murmured to himself. They walked into the entrance hall, a massive room carved from stone and covered with coral, though the coral was dull in colour and very brittle looking. They were also well within the water so their movement speed was obstructed by it. Mega Man still took a moment to look around the columns that held up a vaulted ceiling, and doors leading off to several rooms. Ahead of them was a grand staircase that led up to a pair of large double doors.

"Does this seem too easy to you?" Site asked as they walked across the hall.

"Yes," Mega Man answered simply. He glanced around the group and saw everyone was very ready for battle, Axl with a pair of energy pistols as his weapons. He was about to open the doors when they were suddenly surrounded by dark fire. The group whirled around as a pair of adolescent cyber-elves appeared in a swirl of dark flames with shadowy tentacles swaying from their waists down.

"Not so fast Mega Fool!" the elves spat. "Her Ladyship does not wish to be disturbed, and we shall prevent it from happening."

"Mega Fool huh? Where'd you come up with that one? A history book?" Mega Man asked cheekily. It was a nickname Dr. Wily had often called him, so it didn't strike him as particularly original.

"What a funny little boy you are," one of the dark elves said.

"Now burn in the flames of darkness." The group scattered as purple-black flames struck where they'd been standing.

"Glace!" he called. The female reploid raised her hands and a faint aura of light appeared around everyone. Mega Man could feel the extra protection around him carry a kind of comforting warmth, like a parent's hug, like the kind Dr. Light would give him when he came back from a mission safe and sound. This is no time to get pensive, he told himself. "Alright elves, bring it!"

"You're cute when you're tough," one of the elves giggled, proceeding to lob bolts of dark fire at him. Mega Man dodged aside, but the fire struck him a glancing blow to the shoulder. There was brief pain and a burning sensation, but he saw that he was only singed. The effort of keeping the shield up though was taxing on Glace, and he could tell by a strained look on her face.

"Mmm, looks like your little girlfriend won't be keeping you safe for much longer," the dark elves taunted. Mega Man gritted his teeth in anger as his friends avoided blasts of dark fire and fired on the dark elves. However plasma shots proved almost ineffective and Mega Man was beginning to wonder how they could beat them. His other attacks seemed almost as ineffective. Fire wasn't going to work underwater, ice didn't really do much, he didn't dare use electricity, earth he'd burned out for now and nature they dodged better.

"Idea!" Atla cried into Mega Man's ear.

"Ow, don't yell. What is it?" he asked

"Elf Fusion of course," Atla said "I give the word and me, Lem and Mun will fuse with each of you and it should give you the power to get rid of these guys.

"Worth a shot," Mega Man said, and slid to avoid a bolt of dark fire. He dashed over to meet up with Net, Site, Axl and Glace, using Frosthrower . "We're doing Elf Fusion," he explained to them quickly.

"But we're human," Site protested.

"We can fuse with suits," Atla said.

"What about me?" Axl asked.

"I want you to protect Glace, we need the light shields a little longer," Mega Man said.

"Protecting chicks huh?" Axl joked.  
"No flirting either," Mega Man joked back, though his voice carried a note of defensiveness too.

"Alright," Axl finished with mock disappointment as Glace giggled at their exchange.

"I can keep these shields up for a bit more still, but do your best to be quick," Glace said.

"We will. Alright three, two, one."

"Elf Fusion! Hacker Mode!" Mega Man, Site and Net cried in unison. In a bright flash the three changed slightly with the rod-like 'elf wings' protruding from their backs and with their armour lighter in colour, for Site and Net, and Mega Man was now wearing a white chest plate and shoulder guards.

"It'll take more than fancy colours to defeat us," the dark elves cackled in unison.

Mega Man grinned, he could feel the power of righteousness inside him, and he knew what to do. "Light Shot!" he cried and a bolt of what seemed to be pure, white light fired from his buster and struck one of the dark elves. She screamed as the darkness appeared to burn away for a second and reveal some of her pink colouration.

"Light Beam!" Site cried and a ray of light fired at the elf and once again the darkness seemed to burn away.

"Light Blade!" Net cried and jumped, swing his blade at the elves and slicing a clear wound through the darkness.

"Keep it up guys!" Mega Man cried and they continued to fire at the dark elves, who were rendered almost immobile by the attacks that seemed to cause them so much harm. It wasn't long before the darkness began to dissipate from the elves and with a final combo attack from the three it vanished altogether leaving two adolescent cyber-elves tired and sore, but freed from the shackles of the virus. There was a glow as Atla, Mun and Lem re-appeared, ending the fusion and the boys returned to their normal appearance.

"You did it," Glace gasped "You freed two cyber-elves from the virus."

"I'm surprised myself," Mega Man said, moving towards the pair of elves who'd drifted down to the ground. "They're just unconscious. We don't have time to help them; we need to heal Lady Aqua."

"But we can't just leave them here like this," Net pointed out.

"The Dark Queen won't turn a blind eye to what just happened here," Glace explained "Every moment we waste is a moment she could be preparing to strike out at us. None of us want to just leave them, but I'm afraid we'll have to."

"Well let's at least move them against a wall or something," Net said.

Mega Man sighed. "I'm getting hard in my old age," he muttered. "You're right Net; even a little goes a long way. Help me move them over against the wall." Mega Man picked up one elf and Net held the other and they carried them across the room, setting them down gently against a wall. "There," he said gently, looking at the sweet, peaceful expressions the elves now wore. "Hope you two feel better soon," he said.

"Alright!" he continued jumping up. "We have a level to cleanse, and not a minute to lose."

"Right!" Net agreed and the two dashed back to the group where Mega Man took the lead and pulled open the double doors. There was a short, small hallway to another pair of larger, gilded double doors. Mega Man dashed through these doors as well and they entered the throne room. There sitting on a coral throne between two rows of columns was Lady Aqua.

Like Lady Flora, Aqua had less armour and therefore a more human appearance. She did however wear a helmet that had a slight shark-like appearance with three crests and a sharp, streamlined appearance. The rest of her armour followed the curves of her body in a delicate design, with large round shoulder guards and an eel-like tail from the waist down. Her armour was a faded, rusty blue. Her right hand grasped a brass trident that served as her weapon.

"You certainly took your time getting here," she said, her voice calm and soft, but with an element of danger lurking below the surface.

"Lady Aqua, we're only here to help you," Mega Man said. "We don't have to fight. If you can fight off the virus' influence long enough I can free you from it forever."

She smiled darkly and swam from her throne to him in a few graceful movements. "My aren't you a good looking boy," she said with a sickly sweetly voice. Mega Man felt her fingers trace his face gently. "Come now cutie, you don't need this crowd of weaklings holding you down. I can feel your power, and it would be put to much better use with me. I would see you elevated to the side of the Dark Queen herself."

Mega Man simply stood with a mildly confused expression. Her offer was normal, but her way of offering it was rather strange to him. "Um... uh..." he stuttered.

"Mmm a boy with muscle," Aqua continued, her finger tracing his chest muscles which vaguely showed through his cloth-like armour. Mega Man was feeling too confused and uncomfortable to know what he should do. She was being gentle so he wasn't sure it was right to be aggressive, but there was something sinister behind her actions that he couldn't understand. What's more there was a strange fogginess coming over his mind.

"Get off him!" Glace cried angrily, firing a bolt of light at Lady Aqua. The water reploid was sent rolling through the water several feet before she righted herself. She came to Mega Man's side and grinned at him. "You were looking a little confused, so I decided someone had to do something," she explained.

"Thanks Glace," he said. "Sorry Lady, but my loyalty is to my friends and justice," he said to Aqua, his mind feeling clearer now.

"You're going to regret that you little brats," she spat furiously. The water around them suddenly surged and flowed with a powerful current, while she remained at its calm center. At first they tried to stand against what was effectively a whirlpool, but the current proved too strong. Even Axl's aquatic robot form couldn't quite handle the current. Mega Man felt like a doll as he was whipped around the room by the water and flailed around to be sometimes upside down. To make matters worse Aqua began firing bolts of energy from her trident at them, trying to hit them while prone. Her aim was good too and the only way they were able to dodge them was to swim with the current as best they could.

"This is ridiculous!" Site cried as he tried to shoot Lady Aqua, but he was getting too disoriented to aim right.

"This ride's not fun anymore," the elves complained.

"I have an idea, but you guys will have to bear with the current a bit longer," Mega Man said.

"We've managed so far," Axl said.

"I know, just manage for a bit longer," Mega Man said. He turned himself as best he could towards Lady Aqua and his colours changed to green. "Energy Vines!" he cried and fired a trio of vines which wrapped around Lady Aqua and held her still. Using the vines like a grappling hook he pulled himself along them until he was out of the current, while Lady Aqua tried to cut the vines with a high-pressure water jet from her barely exposed fingers. Mega Man made a note of the ability and his Variable Weapon System began to process it.

At last he was out of the current and close to the Guardian. He lowered the vines, but before she could react he whipped out his M-Sabre and cut through the glowing red orb on her chest. It shattered and vanished, and Mega Man watched with a smile as the rust fell away from Lady Aqua and her colours brightened. She gasped like she'd been drowning and immediately cancelled the maelstrom. The dark haze over the entire level vanished and soon Mega Man was running over to check on his friends and looking through crystal clear water.

"Thank you Mega Man," Lady Aqua said as she helped the others up. "And many apologies for any actions that might have made you uncomfortable."

"That's okay," Mega Man said with a smile. "Now can you help us return to the surface? I think we have some explanations needed now." With this comment he gazed at Axl and Net. "Yes I mean you two."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Once they were back on the surface and in one of the homes, Mega Man had everyone dry off before sitting down to hear their stories. The storm had dissipated, but a light drizzle still fell. "So," Mega Man said "Two group additions in one level. Net, you're first."

"Well," Net started "After we got separated, the Dark Twins put in this cage somewhere. I don't even know where it was, just some small dark room somewhere, I think in the cliffs. I think I fell asleep or something, because I was really tired."

"Sleeping is one his two favourite activities," Site teased.

"I can't argue there," Net agreed "Anyways when I woke up there was this sort of transparent teenager in a robe standing outside the cage. Then suddenly the cage vanished and he led me down a tunnel to where this armour was. He told me to put it on, and I did, then everything went white and I was suddenly standing in this city, all armoured and ready."

"So X freed you too," Mega Man said.

"We think he gets stronger as each level's cleansed," the elves said together.

"Definitely a possibility," Mega Man agreed. "Now then, Axl, you're turn. Nobody's seen you since the Elf Wars apparently, and you were Justin before. What's going on?"

"Well... my story's a bit longer," Axl said, his usual cheery voice sounding more depressed. "When I saw the power cyber-elves created... I got scared. I was so scared, and I ran. I'd never run from battle before then. I'm a combat reploid, I was made to fight. But the power cyber-elves gave to reploids... it scared me.

"So I ran, but I was damaged by Mavericks who followed me using cyber-elf power. I collapsed near the private lab of Dr. Nuage, Ciel's great great grandmother, and she took me in. She said my body was too badly damaged, but she'd build an exact replica for me. Then I told her I wanted to hide, so she made my new body younger looking and tinkered with my shapeshifting powers. So when she transferred me I changed my appearance and she created new memories for me."

"So you became an ordinary kid?" Mega Man said in awe.

"Yeah," Axl said sadly.

"Why do you sound so sad about it?" Site asked.

"I ran away like a coward," Axl replied angrily "I left my friends to fight the worst war this world's ever seen. They risked their very beings while I sat back, no longer knowing who they even were."

"I'm sure X has forgiven you," Glace said, sitting beside Axl as tears began to well up in his eyes.

"If I hadn't run away maybe the world wouldn't have been..." Axl trailed off. He took a deep breath before speaking again. "Anyways I had my memory wiped and replaced every couple years for the next hundred and fifty years, and then we met while I was Justin. You know the rest until we got separated. After that I was stuck in a cage somewhere, like Net.

"Then after a while I heard someone whisper these numbers, which was the re-activation code for my true self, and then I remembered who I really was and everything. Then I found this broken down Herder reploid and copied his DNA, and now here we are."

"That's quite a story Axl," Mega Man surmised.

"Yeah... you're a hero of the Maverick Wars," Net said in awe. "Take that Chaud, I'm friends with Axl," he muttered.

"Chaud? That kid with platinum hair over black hair?" Axl asked.

"Um yeah, nevermind," Net said sheepishly. "Shouldn't we get going?"

"I think you all need to rest," said a voice. They looked around to see the two adolescent cyber-elves they'd cured from darkness appearing in the house.

"Many, many thanks to you Mega Man and to your friends as well," one of them said. She had long green-blue hair, wore a green-blue robe and a pair of those weird horns all cyber-elves seemed to have. Mega Man didn't think either elf looked much older than him. Her friend had red hair and a red robe and actually seemed to be male.

"You're welcome, but I'm afraid we must be moving on. We have no time for rest," Mega Man said.

"You must, or else you will not have the energy to continue fighting," the red-robed elf said.

"I'm a robot, I don't need rest," Mega Man protested, though promptly yawned. The elves giggled.

"You may not, or believe you don't, but you have humans with you. Now come on, all of you get some sleep," the green-blue robed elf said.

"Can we get your names?" Glace asked.

"I'm Cramoisi," the red-robed elf said "And my friend is Veleu."

"Nice to meet you both," Mega Man said, yawning again.

"Do you still think you don't need rest?" Veleu asked.

"Sleep sounds like a good idea to me!" Net said enthusiastically.

"Sleeping is all you ever do," Site said "Besides eating."

"I have a high metabolism," Net retorted.

"Are you sure it's not being a lazy pig?" Site teased.

"I play soccer all summer. In fact who's their star player?"

"Both of us.

"Yeah, but Coach likes me better," Net said smugly.

"Okay you two," Glace interrupted. "The elves are right; I think we should all get some sleep before we move on."

"Alright," Mega Man sighed at last. "Find a place to sleep everyone." The group dispersed as Atla, Mun and Lem simply curled up like cats on the furniture, while everyone else looked for couches or beds. Mega Man found a small room and before he could even change out of his armour he was asleep.

The Dark Queen, Mistress of the Dark Elves, hovered in front of a screen as it flickered on. She was barely visible, encased in a strange black shell and surrounded by dark flames. Nevertheless she could see as the square-jawed, scarred face of Sigma appeared on the screen. "Is your army ready to march forth elf?" he asked derision clear in his voice.

"Not quite yet Lord Sigma, we've had to deal with some technical difficulties on our end."

"Of what nature?"

"Intruders, they've made significant progress too. I think X is helping them."

"Even in death that fool continues to hinder my plans," Sigma spat. "See to it that he fails."

"Yes my lord," the Dark Queen said and turned the screen off. She gazed over her children, Detruis and Deses, concealed in dark shells of their own. "Let us hope Lord Aero can succeed where the others have failed."

"Perhaps we should go assist him," Detruis suggested.

"Not yet my children," the Dark Queen said. "We'll send more elves, while I continue to monitor them. Mega Man is proving quite a powerful opponent indeed; I want to see just how far he'll make it."

When Mega Man awoke he immediately checked his internal clock. About six hours had passed; almost a full night's sleep. He immediately got up and restored the bed, hoping to not use someone's home disrespectfully. With that done he began waking everyone up, and tried to find the two humans some food. He found some very dry, but still edible oatmeal and began heating up water.

"This is gross," Lan said several minutes later when the food was ready. "It's like sawdust mixed with water."

"Best thing we could find," Mega Man said as the two humans gulped down the lumpy, wet slop. "I can power myself on many things, though usually sunlight. But I found some energy capsules while we were looking for food," Mega Man said, pulling out the glowing energy globes from his gauntlet containers. "Already used one, any of you need one?"

"Sure," Axl said, grabbing one and quickly absorbing its contents.

"Me too," Glace said, doing the same. "What about you Scout?" Glace asked the always quiet robot dog.

"Thank you Mistress," Scout said as she was handed the final pellet.

"I hope you're all refreshed and ready to leave," Atla said suddenly, appearing from nowhere and causing everyone to jump.

"Isn't it fun having our full powers back?" Mun added, appearing next.

"Yeah, we lose 'em in the enemy's territory," Lem finished.

"We still need to find light shields," Mega Man said.

"We've located a couple," Cramoisi said, appearing amidst the group.

"Where?" Mega Man asked.

"Near the elevator entrance, we can show you," Veleu explained. "Come, we should get moving."

"Agreed," Mega Man said. "Are you two finished?"

Net and Site nodded and cleaned their bowls before standing at the ready. "We're ready chief," Net said and his brother nodded in assent.

"Then let's get moving."

"The canals have been lowered," Glace noted as they walked outside under a light drizzle.

"Yes, my home is back in working order," Lady Aqua said, appearing from one of the canals. "And my people are soon to be free." She pulled herself on to land and her tail quickly changed into legs, though covered by her blue dress. "And I cannot thank you enough for all you have done for our beleaguered nation," she finished.

"It's what I do," Mega Man said "And my friends were more than happy to help as well."

"Humility; one of the finest traits of any hero. Anyways, as a token of my gratitude I would like to present you with this," she said and let an orb of energy float towards Mega Man. After it connected flowed over Mega Man's body and when the light faded Mega Man was wearing a bluish-silver breastplate and shoulder guards. In addition a thin aura of light seemed to emanate from him. "It's a gift from X I found; light armour. I was surprised to see it existed, I thought it was just a story. But here it is, real as ever."

"But how did you find it?" Mega Man asked. "Most of X's artifacts were left so only I could reach them."

"Only while the city was in darkness. I don't know if he expected you to miss that one entirely, but when restored to normal I can access anything hidden within my city. They say that particular item was crafted similarly to a breastplate that X had received from Light himself."

"I'm noticing a pattern," Mega Man said, looking over the new armour. It fit perfectly, and was flexible enough that it didn't impede his speed or agility in the least. "Is this a light shield?" he asked, observing the glow surrounding him.

"Yup," Mun said piped in. "The Light Armour was armour with a built in light shield, plus the extra protection from its physical endurance."

"I see," Mega Man said. "Well thank you for the assistance Lady Aqua, but we must be going. With every second wasted in here, the situation outside worsens."

"Then good-bye for now Mega Man, Glace, Net, Site, and Axl." And with that Lady Aqua dove back into the water.

"Keep moving," Mega Man said, beginning walking in the direction the older elves indicated earlier.

"We'll meet you at the edge of the city," Cramoisi said and the two older elves vanished.

"Race to the city's edge?" Net asked "First one across the bridge wins." Net immediately took off running and laughing.

"Cheater!" Mega Man and Site called after him as they all began running after him. As Mega Man, Glace and Axl were all robots, they didn't tire out easily, and soon the three of them caught up to Net, with Site trailing only slightly behind.

When they reached the bridge the drizzle had stopped and the sun was beginning to appear from behind the clouds, or at least the sun simulation device. The group crossed the bridge at running pace and seemed to reach the cliffs on the other side all at the same time. There they stopped to catch their breaths and waited for the elves to appear.

"So who won?" Axl asked.

"I think it was a tie," Mega Man said neutrally.

"No way, I won," Net said.

"That's what you always say," Site said.

"Cramoisi! Veleu!" Mega Man cried. The elves appeared right in front of him, making him jump.

"Sorry for startling you," Veleu said. "Come." The two elves led them along the cliffs a bit until they came to a large boulder. Veleu waved her hand and the boulder vanished. Behind it was a small cave in which were contained three small platinum and gold hexagonal shaped objects about the size of Mega Man's palm.

"My powers can protect me," Glace said "So Axl, Net and Site, you get the light shields."

Axl grabbed one and attached it to the inside of his vest. Immediatly an aura of light similar to the one around Mega Man appeared around him. Net and Site followed suite and similar auras appeared around them. "So what's next?" Mega Man asked the elves.

"Air and Lord Aeros. Be careful, and good luck," Cramoisi said, and then the two elves vanished, after which Mega Man led the group to the elevator and they waited as it rose.

Net dashed off the elevator first, eager to get a look at the next city, only to stop short with one foot dangling over empty air and he flailed his arms as he struggled to maintain his balance on the platform that hovered above a cloudy abyss. Mega Man dashed off and grabbed his friend, pulling him back from the precipice. "And that Net, is why you don't go rushing into things," Site said.

"Yeah," Net said, catching his breath from the huge fright of almost falling to his death. Mega Man looked out across the empty air to see the city floating a good distance away. It seemed to have some sort of anti-gravity technology underneath judging by the faint blue-green glow emitted. It was mostly surrounded by clouds so it was hard to make out much else besides the general shape of large buildings.

"So how do we get across?" Axl asked, looking over the drop. The platform they were on was connected to the wall of the immense 'room' in which the city was positioned, by the way it was designed made it look very convincingly like a pillar sitting in the middle of the atmosphere. This platform was large enough to hold several cars lengthwise and in width, but still relatively small.

"This _is_ a highway," Mega Man noted. "So there must be some way, or there _was _some way across." He looked across the edge of the platform and noted small broken clamps. "There was a bridge here," he said, looking at the clamps.

"Guess we should've expected that," Site said with a sigh.

"It takes more than a missing a bridge to stop me," Mega Man said, gazing across the large gap. "Ah ha," he said at last, pointing along the platform to a blimp with colours that allowed it to blend in with the sky. It wasn't tethered and appeared to be drifting freely.

"Cool!" Net cried "Can I drive?"

"No," Mega Man said bluntly.

"What? Why not!"

"Have they lowered the age for driving or pilot's licenses Site?" Mega Man asked.

"It's gone up and down, but never below fourteen," Site said triumphantly, apparently loving the chance to show his knowledge.

"There you go Net," Mega Man said "I'm two hundred and fifty years old, Axl's one hundred and fifty, and Glace is fifty. I'm the oldest, I'm driving."

"Aww," Net groaned as Mega Man pulled in the blimp with the door handle and held it steady while the others boarded the blimp's cabin and followed after them, closing the door behind him.

"Have you ever driven before?" Axl asked.

"Yup," Mega Man replied, taking a seat at the controls.

"Have you ever driven a blimp before?" Site specified apprehensively.

"Um," Mega Man said, thinking back. "Maybe." Site face palmed at this. "Don't worry, I've been scanning this thing while you've been talking."

"Will that help you understand how to drive it?" Site asked.

"Yes," Mega Man said, pulling a lever. The droning sound of the propellers started and he turned the wheel until they were facing the city. Soon they were moving towards the flying city at a steady speed, while the others took some time to sit on the bench seats and rest.

"You like him don't you," Axl said to Glace with a grin.

"Of course, he's my friend," she answered simply.

"No I mean you really like him."

"Don't be ridiculous," Glace laughed, though she wasn't entirely sure. "Neither of us is mentally old enough too-"

"Oh please, I see the way you look at him," Axl pressed. "You have a crush on him don't you?"

Glace sighed and looked down at the floor. It was sort of true. Her heart had fluttered a bit when they first met, and she couldn't stand the sight of the corrupted Lady Aqua trying to... well she wasn't sure what she'd been trying to do, but it had made her angry. Still, she'd moved past that and was comfortable with their current friendship. "Had," Glace said. "I've gotten over it now. He's my friend, and the first friend I've had besides Scout in fifty years."

Axl smiled and let the subject drop. He believed what Glace had said, but he couldn't help but wonder if there would be more to their friendship some day. He'd never met a robot as old as Mega Man before, and even Glace was pretty old for a civilian model. So in that event the way their minds had changed with age would be unprecedented. He was sure of one thing though; they'd grown past their original age setting, as all robots eventually will.

"How's everyone doing?" Mega Man asked. "Be careful of cyber-elves."

"Yeah they could pop up anywhere," Mun said. "Even inside the blimp."

"Don't worry, we'll handle them," Site assured.

Mega Man was trying to keep his gaze intent on the sky. None of his brothers had any association with flight. The first Robot Master he could think of who had such an association was probably Air Man, one of Wily's robots. They never really talked much though after Light reprogrammed him, and definitely not before. Then there was Cloud Man, though he tended to associate himself with lightning and storms.

A movement in the corner of his eye drew his attention. He turned his gaze to see a serpentine, somewhat transparent creature that seemed to be composed of cyclones. It was a dragon though, styled similarly to Eastern ones. Naturally Mega Man could also see that it was a cyber-elf of a similar nature to the kraken. "We got company guys," Mega Man cried as a number of what looked like mini-tornadoes materialized within the blimp.

"How could you get so far!" the cyber-elves asked furiously.

"But we'll be the ones to stop you!" another cried.

"You guys never learn," Axl said confidently and fired off shots from both his pistols.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Axl and the others made quick work of the dark elves, after which Axl holstered his pistols with a confident smirk. "These dark elves are nothing; I used to take out tougher enemies on half-power."

"They're not done yet," Site warned. His brother stood with him, back to back. More of the dark elves appeared from thin air, along with adolescent ones with sharp talons for hands and feet and black wings. The lesser elves were far more numerous in appearance, from birds to clouds.

"Light shields," one of the harpy-like elves spat. "It matters not, even if the flames don't touch the heat still burns. Hit them with all you got!"

Net gripped his energy blade tightly and rolled aside when a ball of dark flame hurtled by him like a meteor. He felt the heat cross his skin, but managed to dodge it, but at the same time he landed right in the path of a massive gust of wind launched by one of the lesser elves. Net felt himself get lifted into the air and thrown against the wall by the force of the wind. He recovered quickly and struck back, slicing the elf in two. Net followed up by activating the 'wide sword' chip, causing his blade to increase in width. He swung around him and sliced down one of the harpy's as she tried to sneak attack him. "Got'cha!" he quipped, and leapt back into battle.

"What's the status chief?" Site asked, blasting down another harpy and her minions.

"Something's not right," Mega Man said in response. He could feel vibration that wasn't from the engines, and they seemed to be moving more slowly than they were to begin with. There has to be a scanner somewhere, he thought as he looked over the controls.

"What's wrong?" Glace asked as the last of the elves in the blimp were shot down.

"There's something wrong," Mega Man said and made a small screen turn on. It showed a pair of green bars; one labelled 'shield integrity' and the other 'blimp integrity'. "We have a shield on this thing, that's kind cool... wait a second." The blimp shuddered and rocked causing them all to look around inside frantically, then out the windows, at the same time trying to keep their balance. "They're attacking the balloon!" Mega Man cried, fiddling with the screen to get an image of the ship and its surroundings. A swarm of cyber-elves and Pantheons with jetpacks were shown on the monitor. "The shield keeps it from damaging the balloon, but if they keep beating away at it-"

"Then we're going down," Site finished. "How are we gonna get up there though?"

"Working on it," Mega Man said. He fiddled with the controls so quickly even the other robots barely caught his movement; but at last a circle of blue energy appeared on the floor in the middle of the cabin. "There, shield's still got most of its strength, use that teleporter to go up and stop them from causing real damage."

"Right," Net affirmed, dashing into the teleport. The others swiftly followed, leaving Mega Man to try and steer for the closest point of the city.

Mega Man on the other hand sighed sadly as he drove. "I can't believe I just let them do that," he muttered to himself. "Axl's with them though, so they should be fine," he added, trying to comfort himself. He wasn't sure what he'd do if he lost his friends. He'd tried so hard to stay distant from them, then to keep them out of danger, but that was all failing. The only thing he could do now was hope to draw most of the danger to himself and to keep them safe to the best of his abilities.

Net blinked as the bright light of the teleport faded, and then he looked around quickly to make sure the others had come through okay, thirdly he looked around the blimp's exterior to get his bearings. His jaw almost dropped at the swarming elves in their numerous air-related forms; from miniature tornadoes and clouds, to the commanding harpies, and of course joining them were Pantheons. "We need a plan," Net said, slicing apart a Pantheon that landed on the blimp and tried to blast him.

"You're not captain of the soccer team for nothing," Site said from beside him with a smile.

"That's soccer, this is battle," Net protested, barely dodging a bolt of dark flame, and crashing into Axl.

"Sorry," Axl said as they got up. "Your brother's right, I remember watching one of the soccer games your team won. Come on!"

"Okay I'll give it a shot. Axl, you use your copy shot on one of those flying robots, fly around and try to draw some of these guys away."

"Got'cha," Axl said.

"Glace!" Net cried as she joined the group with Scout and the three elves joining her. "You, Scout, Atla, Lem and Mun, I want you to all focus on the harpies. If you can bring them down onto the ship I can slice them up." Glace nodded in affirmation.

"Finally Site, you have the best long range, so you and me are going to work on clearing the little guys. Now go!"

There was a flurry of movement as Glace fired twin bolts of ice and light at two of the harpies, with Scout tearing apart the ice one as it fell and the elves unleashed several light based attacks of their own on the other until it burned up in golden energy. Axl charged and fired one of his pistols at a Pantheon as it landed. He grinned and his form glimmered with light before changing into an exact duplicate of the robot he'd just destroyed. He swooped around the blimp, shooting at the mavericks and destroying them, or drawing them away. Net grinned to his brother who grinned back. "Bring it!" they cried to the swarming elves.

(())

Mega Man gritted his teeth as the blimp's flight became more and more rocky. The wind seemed to have picked up suddenly, which he hoped his friends could handle. Despite their efforts it seemed the blimp's shield was still degenerating and a crash seemed inevitable. "I just have to get us to the city," he muttered as the floating city came closer and closer.

"How're things going down here?" Mun's voice said from the communication system. "I'm tapping into the comms in case you're wondering."

"Everything's fine here, are you guys managing everything fine up there?" Mega Man asked.

"Net's taken charge, the wind's starting to cause some problems, but most of the harpies are down so it's just a matter of cleaning up now."

"Hurry up! I don't think Lord Aeros is happy with us," Mega Man replied. "Get back to finishing up and then get back inside. I need everyone inside ASAP."

"Okie doke, Mun out."

Mega Man fiddled with the controls feverishly, hoping to find some way to speed up. He could see the city coming very close, but still not close enough. That was when he saw it again, looming in the clouds and twisting and turning like a wisp of vapour. "Guys! Get in here now!" he cried desperately. His hand moved to the teleport controls and he pressed 'recall'. In a flash of white light his friends re-appeared in the cabin, Axl still in Pantheon form and Net holding his sword in mid-slash.

"What'd you do that for!" Net cried.

"That's why!" Mega Man cried pointing ahead as the great dragon burst forth from the clouds, now fully scaled and moving with clear intent. "It would've swept you off if I hadn't pulled you back in, and I'm pretty sure I know what it's trying to do."

"Destroy the blimp," Site finished to which Mega Man nodded. The blimp shook violently and its shields dropped from eighty to seventy percent in the one blow.

"I'm going to try and get as close as possible, and then..." Mega Man trailed off. "You might have to carry us Axl."

"Are you forgetting about us?" the cyber-elves asked. "We can help too."

"Sure, I'm setting us on auto-pilot. Go to the door." The city's edge was quite close now and the group gathered around the door. Axl grabbed the twins and jumped, starting his jetpack and flying through the air towards the city. Next the elves formed their energy platform which Glace and Scout boarded.

"Come on Mega Man," Glace said. Mega Man moved to step on the platform when something caught his eye in the clouds below. He grinned and stepped back.

"You guys go, I got a better idea."

"But-" Glace protested.

"Trust me," Mega Man assured confidently, putting his hand on her shoulder.

Glace nodded reluctantly. "Okay, I trust you. You better know what you're doing."

"I do." Mega Man said and grinned, giving Glace a thumbs-up. "You elves make sure she gets to the city safely."

"Roger!" the elves cried in unison and floated off towards the city. Mega Man watched them for a few minutes before dashing back to the controls and activating the teleporter. He was used to the sensation of teleporting and waited until the white light faded from his vision. He looked around and saw the dragon whirling back around to strikes at the blimp again. The Blue Bomber grinned confidently and rooted his legs to the blimp then raised his buster.

The dragon swooped down, clearly intending to take both him and blimp out with one strike. Mega Man charged his shot, building up energy in his buster as the dragon came closer and closer. As it drew near the wind began to pick up, but Mega Man stood his ground and waited until the shot was fully charged. "Eat plasma you big ugly snake!" he yelled and fired. The dragon was almost on him and the shot went right into the creature's roaring mouth. It writhed and thrashed in pain and Mega Man ran out of its way and leapt off the blimp as the dragon crashed into it, sending both plummeting into the clouds.

Mega Man, meanwhile, was falling, and the distance was way too great for his sturdy body to survive. He wasn't worried though because a streak of reddish-pink appeared from the clouds and flew under him. He landed on it and grinned at the skyboard-formed Rush. "Thanks for the save Rush!" he called over the wind. "Glad to see you again."

"Always a pleasure to serve you master," Rush replied happily as the two seemed to move as one through the sky and towards the city. Mega Man hopped off once they'd reached the city, his friends having arrived just moments before. The other boys all greeted Rush happily, while Mega Man introduced him to Glace, Scout and the elves.

"So this is the Rush I've been hearing all about," Glace said. "Nice to meet you."

"And it's a pleasure to meet you Mistress Glace, and you too Miss Scout."

"The pleasure's all mine Mister Rush," Scout responded formally.

"Good now that introductions are out of the way we need to get going," Mega Man said. "That dragon might not be down for the count, and I'd rather not stick around to find out if it has."

"Well I guess the Sky Palace would be the home of Lord Aeros," Mun said. "That's where all the administration stuff is done for this level. Plus it's the weather control center for the whole nation."

"I'd guessed that the city's weather is artificially created," Mega Man said as they began walking towards the center of the city, or what Mun indicated was the right way. "But how come the other levels seem to have control over their own weather."

"They do," Atla said. "It's simple, each level has its own weather control system independent from the main unit in case this one needs to be repaired or shut down for some reason."

"X and the Elf Queen thought of everything," Lem finished happily.

"Clearly," Rush said, visibly impressed.

"Then they would all work as a network if the central unit is online to help keep stress on the system minimal," Mega Man and Rush surmised together.

"Yup! Say, you two are pretty good, did you practice saying things together at the same time?" Lem asked.

"Nope," Mega Man replied simply.

"The only one left to find in here is Jalon," Site said. "You know, I wonder why they don't just teleport us right back to our prison spots."

"That sort of mass teleport takes a long time to charge up," Lem said.

"Yeah, and with them losing so much ground so quickly, they have a lot of energy needed elsewhere," Mun finished.

"That's a win for us then," Mega Man said as he kept his keen eyes set ahead. Things had gotten quiet, and he didn't like that. There was an ambush coming up, he was sure of it. He was proven right when a squad of Sky Pantheons appeared in the sky, along with five dark armoured beings with large, shadowy wings. The horns on their heads gave them away as cyber-elves however. "Knew it," he said simply. "Let's do this!"

Sword and buster bolts saw the squad defeated quickly, between upgrades and pure experience the group had become used to higher ranking cyber-elves, and the Pantheons were just as useless as ever. It wasn't long before the squad was twisted burnt metal and returned to data. "This feels like it's getting easier," Net stated.

"Reminds me of this time at school when this bully tried to punch me," Mega Man said.

"I remember that day," Rush said. "The poor kid ended up breaking his fingers and spraining his wrist."

"Ouch, why?" Site asked as they began walking.

"Because my skeletal structure is made of ceramic titanium, punching me is like punching an airplane," Mega Man explained with a slight boastful edge.

"How does this situation remind you of that?" Net asked.

"Hah! I get it," Axl cried. "He's saying these Mavericks and Dark Elves are like that kid's bones and we're like Mega Man's body. They go up against us to break themselves."

"Axl got it."

"That's kind of a cool story, bit overkill for that bully though," Net noted. "I don't think I have a story like that."

"I have a story," Axl said. "I was ironing out my shapechanging ability once, just practicing to see what I could do. It was then that I learned I could copy humans without needing to shoot them, just be in very close proximity."

"Why?" Mega Man asked.

"I dunno. I'd tell you to ask my manufacturer, but he's long gone by now," Axl replied. "Anyways I was passing some kid on the street about the same age as I was then, about fourteen I guess, and I did a quick DNA copy and when he was gone I morphed into him. Then within minutes this girl finds me, his girlfriend, and I'm suddenly on a date with her. Took me forever to actually manage to tell her who I was."

"She talked a lot?" Mega Man asked.

"Well, sort of," Axl answered sounding sheepish.

"Axl you didn't..." Glace said, realizing where he was going.

"What? So I pretended to be her boyfriend, this is a girl we're talking about. She was smokin' hot too," Axl defended. "I apologized afterwards, we ended up becoming friends."

"You just decided to become her friend? But what about her being human?" Mega Man asked.

"What about it? Besides X and Zero she ended up becoming one of my best friends."

"What about when... when she, you know, passed away?" Mega Man asked.

"She was old, she'd had a good life and I was glad to be part of it," Axl said. "I always remember her, but I've also moved on."

Mega Man fell silent. He'd never really thought of it that way, but still... the sound of a Pantheon firing brought him out of his thoughts and he dodged aside in time to see an army of the jetpack wearing androids soaring in from above. "You ready guys?" he asked his friends.

"Dude, do you always gotta ask that?" Net said confidently.

"We gotta fight and move, the Air Palace is our target," Mega Man said, gesturing to a large, ornately designed building that loomed over the city. As they ran and fired, Mega Man noted that the entire city was actually very ornately designed and most of the buildings were white like clouds, with gold trim. The clouds that he had seen around it also covered it, forming a slightly foggy world. The clouds occasionally rumbled with thunder and were wet with rain and ice.

"All cities are the same: roads twisting all over the place," Axl muttered, shooting down Pantheons overhead. "If only we could all fly, we're at a disadvantage here."

"I know," Mega Man replied. "But there's nothing we can do about it, and I want to get this over with. Sigma won't wait for us."

"Yeah he was a good strategist," Axl replied "But the humans can hold him for a couple weeks, and we'll be done well before then."

"How long have we been in here anyways?" Site asked.

"About four days," Mega Man answered. He led them down a street that headed in the direction of the Sky Palace... he thought. The clouds were starting to get thicker and he wasn't sure he was leading in the right direction. He turned another street only to come to a halt in front of a wall, a tall building towering above. "Dead end," he muttered.

"I don't think we have much choice now," Axl said as the Pantheons soared in from behind them.

"Yeah, Rush go rocket sled, I need room for Net, Site and Glace," Mega Man commanded.

"Understood," Rush said, changing form. "What about Miss Scout?"

"We got her!" the elves cried happily forming together into a sort of jetboard.

"Hey you look like Item 2," Mega Man noted. "Anyways is everyone ready?"

"Ready as ever chief," Site said from behind him.

"Then everyone to the sky!" he cried and the three lifted off up into the air, plasma and ice flying as they soared through the Pantheons. As they flew Mega Man caught sight of something in the fog; an ethereal cyber-elf that looked sort of like X, only with a green helmet. The elf made a gesture for them to follow before turning into a ball of green light and speeding off through the fog. "Follow that!" he called to Axl and the elves before leading the way through the fog in the direction the light had flown.

He could see it shining in the clouds; it seemed to wait for them for a few moments before darting off again. Mega Man made sure to keep on its trail, but had to fend off the army of Mavericks that followed them. Whirling around he charged Electric Bolt and fired off a Super Bolt into a clump of Pantheons, a large bolt of electricity ripping through the reploids, jumping through any others close to the point of impact.

Turning back he saw the green light leading them to the Sky Palace, but not the ground entrance. Instead there was a platform jutting out into the sky that was shape like a dock. "A skydock! Why didn't I think of that?" Mega Man said. The group came in to land on the dock and Mega Man looked around for the ball of light, but it had disappeared. Ahead were the large blast doors leading inside. "Come on!" The Pantheon squad was regrouping and Mega Man didn't want to waste his or his friend's energy on unnecessary fights.

To his surprise the doors opened before he moved anywhere near the control panel and as they rushed inside they closed behind them. The second pair of doors opened and closed automatically too and the group stopped to rest in the storeroom within. "I wonder what that light was," Net said.

"A cyber-elf obviously."

"Was it perhaps Master Harpuia?" Atla asked.

"Who?" Mega Man asked.

"One of the guardians and governors of the original Neo Arcadia," Mun explained. "Sage Harpuia, made based on X with his synthetic DNA being incorporated into his design; as was the case with all four Sages."

"X even got an entourage," Mega Man whined. "No fair at all."

"Well it looked sort of like X," Axl said. "Though it's been a long time since I've seen him personally."

"Well we'll have to worry about it later, we still have Lord Aeros to defeat," Mega Man said. "Let's keep moving."


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

"I wonder where Jalon is," Axl said as they walked through the metal corridors of the Sky Palace. "Guess we'll have a lot to fill him in on when we find him."

"Yeah, but we'll find him," Mega Man replied.

"So Mega Man, did you like being a celebrity?" Net asked.

"What?"

"You were famous three hundred years ago right?" Net said. "What was it like being famous?"

"Oh... I never really thought about it. People didn't usually bother me when I was just being me. Well, I guess there was that time I had a couple kids ask me for an autograph."

"You got asked for an autograph? Awesome!"

"What exactly do you mean by 'that time' master? The time it would take for me to calculate the number of times we had Frisbee interrupted by someone who wanted to ask you something. Then you got a cameo in a film, then you were asked to fill in for someone in a professional soccer game, and then you had more such appointments pile up."

"Wow," Net said in awe. "You got to do all that?"

"Okay so it could be fun."

"Sounds like it," Glace said. "Any favourite parts?"

"Having my family with me through all of it," Mega Man replied cheerily. "Even Blues sometimes showed up. He never missed a chance to be there for me, even if..."

"Mega Man?" Glace asked. "Something wrong?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Mega Man said, smiling brightly. "Actually a lot of my appointments usually ended with me having to stop some kind of threat."

"Did you ever kiss a girl?" Axl asked.

"What! N-no, I haven't- why would you ask that?" Mega Man stuttered loudly.

"You don't sound convincing," Axl teased.

"Actually he's right, you really don't," Site added.

"You _have _kissed haven't you?" Net said cheekily.

"W-well," Mega Man stuttered nervously, blushing brightly.

"Come on guys, leave him alone," Glace said gently. "So what was her name?" she teased further.

"Glace," Mega Man whined.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," Glace giggled. "Is it really that embarrassing?"

"Okay, fine. It was Kalinka Cossack."

"Kalinka Cossack! The famous actress and chess player?" Site said with shock.

"Shut up! She was only ten when we kissed, we'd been through a lot," Mega Man explained, blushing profusely. "And she was really pretty and really smart."

"Okay, okay," Axl said laughing at his friend's discomfort. "Calm down before you bust a circuit."

"Anyways we haven't gone up any levels, so we need to find an elevator or stairs," Mega Man said. "There was more building above us when we came in, and Lord Aeros is gonna be in the highest part."

"Lucky for you I spent a week working here," Mun said proudly.

"Only a week?" Axl asked. "It took me a month before I knew my way around Maverick Hunter HQ."

"But you're just a robot; I'm a cyber-elf. We built this place; I think I know my way around it."

"Fine," Mega Man said. "Lead on Mun."

After a few turns and a lot of walking Mega Man was surprised to see Mun did indeed lead them to a pair of elevator doors. They were metal doors too which made them easy for Mega Man to pull open. "Wow you're strong," Lem said. "Those doors had magnetic locks, or they're supposed to."

"My scanner doesn't detect an active magnetic lock... and that's probably why," Mega Man replied looking into the elevator shaft. The elevator was nowhere to be seen, but his scans suggested it was way down at the bottom. "This is why you were made Rush," he teased.

"Why thank you master," the robot dog said sarcastically. "Nice to know the only reason I'm around is to be your skyboard."

"A skyboard is a boy's best friend," Mega Man replied with a thumbs-up. "Question is will all the doors be unlocked?"

"You don't think you're strong enough to pry open magnetic locks?" Glace asked.

"What about Terrakinesis?" Site said. "That enhances your strength."

"Good thinking. Okay you just stay here, Rush and I will explore the elevator shaft, we'll come back if I can open one of the doors." Rush changed form and Mega Man hopped on and they slowly ascended the shaft, slower than the elevator probably. He was looking for doors, but not just any doors, the highest ones. The only problem was the Sky Palace was a fair size place in its own right, even considering the truly gigantic size of the Neo Arcadia tower. Each of the center areas seemed to be about the size of a large skyscraper, the Sears Tower often came to mind. Most of them also had more width.

"Okay guys," Mega Man said into his helmet comm. unit. He heard a few cries of shock from both his receivers and from below.

"Mega Man?" Site asked.

"Sorry for startling you. When we were resting in the last level I took the liberty of connecting our helmets' communication systems to each other. Glace and elves lack helmets so they won't be receiving me. Let me do a check. Come in Axl."

"Receiving you boss," Axl replied.

"Come in Site," Mega Man said, keeping his gaze on the elevator shaft to look for doors. So far he'd already passed a couple, but the elevator shaft kept going up.

"Reading you," Site responded.

"And Net, do you copy?"

"Loud and clear chief," Net replied. "See any top to that thing yet?"

"No, just keeps going up and up," Mega Man replied. He fell silent for a time, the drone of Rush's engines the only sound filling the air. After about ten minutes of silence there was still no sign of the top of the shaft. He wasn't sure if he should have Rush move any faster, he wasn't sure if was a good idea in an enclosed area or when moving vertically. In an abrupt move he fired a bolt of plasma upwards, causing Rush to come to a stop.

"What was that for?" Rush cried.

"Echolocation," Mega Man said simply. "And if my ears are still functioning correctly then I would say the top of the shaft is probably another five minutes or so. If you sped up we could make it in a few seconds."

"I shall continue moving slowly so as to be cautiou-"

"Speed up Rush!" Mega Man cried.

"Of course Master," Rush sighed with exasperation speeding up. "Let's not bother with caution." They sped up and Mega Man watched the shaft blur by and within two minutes he was sensing the top of the shaft coming into range. A few more seconds and they would be there. That's when he heard a roar from above, like the sound of a tornado as it tore across the country. He looked up and saw the final pair of doors, and beside them, curled into the top of the shaft, was the Wind Dragon from earlier. Its body was burnt and damaged, but still alive.

It gazed down at him with glowing blue eyes filled with hatred and before he could react it dove down at him. He felt a sharp pressure hit his body as he was swept off Rush and began falling, only to be quickly grabbed by the dragon in one of its massive paws. And then they were going straight down. Above Mega Man could hear Rush crying out to him, but the rush of the wind and the adrenaline, or what passed for it in him, was pumping. He activated Terrakinesis and with ease smashed through the thumb and foreclaws, freeing his arms.

The dragon roared in fury and pain, whipping its head around to face Mega Man and breathing in with great force, like a massive vacuum. Mega Man charged up his Mega Buster and fired right into the dragon's mouth. It was sent reeling, and let go of him, dropping down below as it roared in pain. When it was below him it whirled around and faced upwards as Mega Man fell towards it, it moved downwards as well, keeping their distance from each other even.

From its position it breathed out spheres of pressurized air. Mega Man did his best to dodge them, but movement while falling wasn't exactly easy. He moved only too late on one and the force of the impact winded him. "Good thing I don't have to breathe," he groaned through the pain. Mega Man fired downwards as fast as he could, aiming for the dragon's mouth. He managed to make a number of his shots make contact and dodged the spheres of air it sent hurtling at him. The dragon roared in even greater fury as the shots connected and pierced through its body.

Mega Man hurled himself through the air as best he could as the dragon barrelled past him and whirled about above him. It breathed in and with a roar let loose a wild blast of hurricane-force wind. Looking around wildly for a way to dodge it, Mega Man fired a level one charged Energy Vine at the wall and grappled over to it. He clung tightly for his dear robotic life as the hurricane whipped through the elevator shaft. Silently Mega Man blessed his durable construction.

The winds died down and Mega Man looked up to see the dragon searching the shaft for him. His sensors kept buzzing back to him, some kind of anomaly in the air, and when he thought about it he realized that the fall wasn't really _that _long, and yet during their fight they didn't seem to have moved a terribly great distance. Then it hit him, and if that was the case then... Mega Man's thoughts trailed off as he formed an idea.

He began charging up his vines again and gazed up at the dragon again. "Hey! I'm right here!" Mega Man cried. The dragon fixed its gaze on him and breathed in again, preparing another hurricane strike. With a triumphant smile he let dispersed the vine he was holding onto and fired a number of massive, fully charged energy vines right into the dragon's gullet; while others wound around it. With a single mental command Mega Man sent a pulse of energy through the vines, causing them to sprout massive thorns and spearing the creature from inside and out. He waited until he finally saw the creature disintegrate in a burst of energy, and the vines dispersed.

It took only a second for Mega Man to realize the predicament he was left in though. "The dragon had an air cushion to slow our fall, but with the dragon dead the cushion's going to," his sentence to himself was cut short as he began plummeting at an ever increasing speed. Sooner than he expected he hit something hard, but slightly cushioned and he looked around to see he'd landed on Rush. "Rush! Another save!"

"What kind of companion would I be if I couldn't save you from falling?" Rush asked as Mega Man got to his feet and rode him back up to the door where the rest were waiting.

"Mega Man!" Glace cried, throwing her arms around his neck happily. "We felt this huge gust of wind go by and saw the dragon; I was getting so worried."

"Aw don't worry Glace, I showed you all before it takes more than a giant cyber-elf to stop me," the Blue Bomber replied confidently as Glace let him go.

"So I was right, that was an air cushion," Site said analytically. "We could expect something of the sort from Lord Aeros."

"I beat Sigma twice _and _Lumine," Axl boasted. "These guys are no sweat."

"We'll see," Mega Man said. "Now give me a second to get the elevator doors than we'll be ready to move on."

A pair of bent metal doors and several flights later the group was standing in a much more embellished hallway; although much of the Air City seemed to be elegantly designed. The cloud-white colour scheme seemed constant, with touches of pink and gold like the sunset and sunrise. More hallways stretched away to the left and right of the elevators, and there was one on the opposite side from where they stood as well leaving the elevator shaft in a sort of island amidst the walls and corridors. "Strange how a place devoted to air could be so... enclosed," Mega Man mused. "Even if the halls are wide, it still doesn't make sense."

As if in response the entire building trembled and shook, causing the group to fall to the white metal floor. Mega Man looked around as walls slid down and folded into the bottom of the building. Some sections of the floor dropped away and others rose up to replace them. In the place of walls, a number of columns were revealed to be supporting the roofs of the four spires and floating overhead a massive platform appeared.

When the shaking stopped the entire area had been completely transformed. Besides the elevator, nothing was connected to the ground anymore. In fact most of the levels below had completely vanished, leaving the level they were on nothing more than floating platforms hovering high above the building's roof. The wind whipped around them and the thick, dark clouds finally broke; torrents of rain poured down, lightning flashed and thunder boomed as a fully fledged storm raged around them.

Mega Man got to his feet and gazed around through the rain. They were on a ring shaped platform around the elevator. In the four directions the hallways were before there were now a series of hovering platforms drifting back and forth in continuous patterns. Each of the paths led to a round, almost altar-like platform with gold roof and spire supported by columns. Resting on each platform was a large cyber-elf garbed in fluttering robes and floating on a tornado, but the storm made it difficult to make out more details.

"So robots," a voice like roaring wind said "You and your two human servants seek to undo my reign. You will not survive the might of the Council of the Winds!"

"Human servants?" Mega Man asked incredulously. "They're my friends, not my servants!" he yelled, but the storm swept his words away so only his friends heard.

"Never mind that," Site said. "We have to attack these cyber-elves."

"Obviously, but something seems off," Mega Man said. "This seems like too simple a setup. There's enough of us that we could take out each cyber-elf with ease between us, but then why would the others just sit there waiting to be taken out?"

"You're right," Axl said. "How're we gonna find out what the catch is?"

"I'm not sure," Mega Man said. "I think... Rush will come with me and attack one of them. I'll use our comms to tell you what to do when I find out what the game is." Before anyone could respond he ran towards the edge of the platform and jumped off, landing on one of the moving platforms as it neared the center. Rush followed quickly after. The winds were too strong for Rush to fly effectively, so they had to use the platforms. "Picking... up anything?" Mega Man asked, pausing mid-sentence to jump to the next platform.

"Nope, but this cyber-elf is wearing a blue robe. Does that count something?" Rush said.

"Platform jumping; man I've missed this," Mega Man said happily as he jumped again.

"Sure, just ignore my question."

"Hm? Oh, it might count as something," Mega Man replied as they made the final jump. There in front of them was a cyber-elf about nine feet tall with whirling maelstrom of clouds and wind where legs should be and clad in a fluttering blue robe to match its icy-blue skin. On its head sat a golden circlet that held a whirling blue cyclone.

"I am Boreas, Lord of the North Wind," the elf said. "My icy winds of winter will destroy you." Before Mega Man could react Boreas threw out his arm and a fierce, icy gale whipped around the robot, pelting him with thousands of sharp ice pellets. Most of his body was protected, but the sheer cold was beyond even his high tolerance and the ice pellets managed to find their way to his face where they cut into his skin.

He couldn't even move out of the path of the gale, if he tried to move he would be blown off the platform. "Rush!" he yelled, seeing his friend waiting for instruction while trying to keep out of Boreas' attention. At the single word Rush opened his mouth which glowed yellow before firing off a plasma shot right at the cyber-elf. It struck home and Boreas cried out in surprise and ceased his assault.

Mega Man took this much needed opening and switched to his flamethrower and shot a continuous stream of flame into the cyber-elf. The cyber-elf's body faded and collapsed under the assault. However it did not disintegrate as cyber-elves usually did. Instead it faded into an incorporeal state and was immediately surrounded by a shield of wind that re-directed all Mega Man's attacks. What's worse is Mega Man could sense energy flowing into the elf, apparently coming from the other Wind Lords. "Guess that answers our question about the 'catch'," Rush said.

"Okay guys, listen up," Mega Man said into his helmet Comm. Link. "I think the elves all draw power from each other, so the only way to beat them will be to get them all down at almost the same time. So... tell Glace and Scout to go to the path to the left of mine; that should be west. Net and Site go down the one directly opposite mine, that should be south. Finally Axl, you and the elves go down the path opposite the one Glace is taking. And hurry!"

((()))

Axl jumped from platform to platform like he had so many years ago. "I missed this," he said to the elves.

"Look out!" the elves cried as the Lord of the East Wind unleashed a powerful blast of wind in Axl's direction, apparently trying to knock him off. Axl dropped to the floor and grabbed the edge of the platform, feeling the intense power of the gale as it swept over him.

"I see what's going on here," Axl said, jumping to the next platform. "You guys patterned this after the Four Winds of Greek mythology didn't you."

"Did we?" Lem asked.

"Yes, it was," Atla answered.

"Why don't you guys say these things earlier?" Axl asked.

"We've been de-fragging and repairing our memory data," Mun explained. "The time spent under the Virus scrambled our memories."

"I see." Axl made the final jumps and drew his twin pistols and faced the cybe-elf, clad in a grey robe. "So, is your name Eurus?"

"Indeed, and let the fierce winds of the East tear you apart!" the elf, raising its arms above its head. The winds whirled around him as a great tornado struck up around him, with Eurus in its eye. The winds drew Axl in with incredible force, pulling him across the ground, no matter how hard he tried to run.

"Fine then," Axl said, the blue spikes on his back shimmering and glowing. Then they shot energy out of them, launching Axl into the air like a jetpack, and he turned a bit and flew at full force away from the tornado, charging up his pistols until they could charge no further, at which point he fired them both into the wind. The suction had some effect on the plasma bolts and they struck with extra force, tearing through the elf and reducing him to an ethereal state.

Axl landed and collapsed with a deep breath. "Wow," the elves said in awe.

"There's a... reason... I don't do that much," Axl explained between breaths. "Yo Mega, got the east one down, tell the others to hurry."

"Good job Axl! And don't worry, I already told them."

As he took a moment to rest Axl muttered to himself "I wonder how they're doing."


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

"Who knew this would ever happen to us?" Net asked as the twins jumped across the platforms that formed their path.

"I wonder... do you think perhaps Duo did?" Site muttered as he jumped across a gap and waited for his brother.

"It was rhetorical, but now you mention it... it's possible I guess."

"I'd love to see Chaud's face when he sees me in this."

"You're always fighting with him," Site sighed.

"He's a jerk; thinks he's so special cause he's rich and gets all that special stuff whenever he wants. He came onto the soccer team and tried to take over, it took the coach to get him to stop, and then he's always insulting me."

"Net," Site interrupted as they made the final jump and the red-clad boy rambled in front of the large cyber-elf.

"Yes, please do bore me more with your pointless personal life," the cyber-elf said, a somewhat dreary tone to his voice "I am Notus, Lord of the South Wind, and you will drown in my rains, or perhaps die by my lightning." Thick, grey rain clouds struck up around the twins and they broke into a monsoon of pouring rain. Luckily the armour kept rain out, more or less, but it still made seeing difficult with the rain going into their eyes. Even their visors did little to help. Notus unleashed a bolt of lightning that struck Site dead on, who flashed with energy before dropping to the ground.

"Hub!" Net cried in horror. He whipped out his blade and dodged a lightning bolt and sliced through the elf furiously, letting out his concern for his brother as rage and slicing through the elf repeatedly, even after the rains let up and the elf became ethereal. When he could slice no more he stopped, gasping for breath, his fake hair dripping with water. He looked over to see his brother pushing himself up shakily. "Site!" he cried again happily, running over to help his brother.

"That was careless," Site groaned as his brother helped him up. His armour had protected him from the bulk of the attack, but there was still an aching pain in his entire torso that felt like he'd been sunburnt ten-times over. "And I'm always telling _you _to be more careful."

"We all have our bad days," Net replied with a grin. "How do you think the others are doing?"

((()))

"Haven't done this much jumping since my Resistance days," Glace said to Scout, her cloak and skirt fluttering in the wind. "Remember when we had to sneak into Necromancess Anubis' temporary HQ in Haven?"

"Yes Glace, now pay attention to the jumps."

"Oh come on Scout you're always such a worrywart."

"Because my mistress is so careless," Scout replied. "You look careful next to Mega Man, I feel sorry for Rush having to handle that one."

"He's cool," Glace said as she jumped the final gaps. "It's like meeting Zero. We never got to meet him, but we were in the Resistance. Talk about unfair." She jumped the last gap and looked up at the elf wearing green robes.

"Zero... what a pathetic simpleton," the cyber-elf before her said. "Your Resistance caused more problems than it solved. But there is no need to worry anymore, relax in the comforting west winds of Zephyrus."

Around the platform the storm suddenly ceased and the violent winds became comforting and warm, the rain stopping. Glace felt the warmth penetrate her every circuit and synthetic nerve. It was so comfortable and warm, and there was a lovely, sweet scent filling the air. She felt her eyes growing heavy and all she wanted to do was lay down and relax in this comfortable spot.

There were strange plant creatures appearing on the platform, like large venus-flytrap plants that crawled forwards on their roots while their mouth-like leaves opened and closed menacingly. Yet despite the incoming danger Glace couldn't summon the energy to do anything to defend herself. She felt so tired and relaxed and ready to fall asleep.

There was suddenly a sharp pain in her leg and she was suddenly wide awake and crying out in pain. She looked down and saw Scout letting go of her. "There, I'm sorry Glace, but I had to wake you up. Now stop inhaling right now! He released spores; that's what was making your tired."

Glace ceased her casual breathing immediately. Like most of her kind she didn't _need _to breathe, but did so absentmindedly out of habit. She hadn't thought that a cyber-elf might play on that simple habit. Now she was awake though, and knew the trick, she was ready. A spear of ice formed in her hands with which she struck down the plant creatures and quickly thrust it into the elf, causing it to explode in a shower of ice shards. The elf collapsed into ethereal state and then faded completely into cyberspace. "We did it!" Glace cried happily.

Suddenly a wind whipped up around her, more powerful than anything so far. It was so strong in fact that she found herself being pulled off her feet and up into the air, while at the same time she tried to hold her skirt down. She and Scout were being carried through the air, and she could see other coloured shapes doing the same; her friends. They were being drawn towards a central platform above the one they'd started on.

Mega Man managed to position himself so that he landed on the platform feet-first. He looked up to see who could only be Lord Aeros. His armoured form had a bullet-shaped head with a ridge running across the top and a grating for a mouth similar to a knight's visor. His body was humanoid, but with large, streamlined pauldrons connected by a bridge of armour across the chest. Set in the chest was the glowing red orb that corrupted his being. He floated in the air with a cloud drifting around the area below his waist.

"Lord Aeros I presume," Mega Man said.

"Correct. You have defeated my subordinates, so now you will face me."

"Gladly," Mega Man replied, his armour's main colour changing to white while the various trim stayed the same colour. He fired a pressurized jet of water, like a pressure washer, straight towards the orb. A disk of lightning appeared in front of the Guardian and Mega Man was forced to cut off the attack to prevent the electricity flowing back into him.

Site hurled several small round bombs that one of the battle chips produced. Lord Aeros produced a gale that blew the bombs right back at them, forcing the kids to dodge out of their way. "You cannot defeat the Lord of Air."

"What trumps air?" Mega Man kept thinking.

"Fire might work," Site said as his brother attempted to jump up to the Air Guardian. "Fire consumes oxygen right? So maybe that might work."

"Maybe," Mega Man mused. "Net," he said into the communicator. "We're gonna try something.

"Okay," Net replied, retreating from the hovering Guardian. Mega Man shifted to his Flamethrower and charged up to Level Two, the mini-meteor. A sharp blast of wind flew in his direction, but he managed to jump out of the way, though he felt his armour stretch a little like it would tear. Then he let the large ball of fire loose, firing it right at the cloud around the Guardian. He cried out as the fire connected and turned the cloud to steam.

Lord Aeros slowly sank down as smoke surrounded him and cried out in pain as the fire burned on, helped by Site who hurled his mini-bombs into the flames. "Glace! Ice him!" Mega Man cried as Lord Aeros touched the ground. The Guardian unleashed a burst of wind that put out the fir, but no sooner had he done so than Glace unleashed twin streams of freezing air that formed ice all around Lord Aeros' body. The Cyber-elves doing their best to keep everyone healed

"I'm not beaten yet," Lord Aeros cried angrily and the air whirled around them, whipping up dust and water into a massive tornado that surrounded the platform. Mega Man felt his ears pop as the pressure changed within. The tearing winds themselves quickly had the entire group trying to just stand. He saw Axl trying to change into his Pantheon form, but not being able to stand long enough. The elves were swept into the swirling winds, but sounding somewhere between terrified and thrilled.

Mega Man felt like a truck hit him when a pressurized blast of wind struck him in the stomach. Rush and Scout had been doing what they could to help, mostly using their mouth blasters. The former hurried to his master's side as Mega Man doubled-over in pain from the strike. Net and Site seemed to be slipping further than anyone else, and Mega Man didn't want them to end up falling into the tornado.

"Rush," Mega Man coughed, getting to his feet, a tear across his armour knitting itself together as his nanites went to work. Rush changed into his airboard form and Mega Man hopped on, flying through the air as best he could in the high winds. "Ice up your feet," he called into his comm.. He moved straight towards the Guardian, air slicing past him. Mega Man shifted back to Water Jet and fired. The range was too close for Aeros to block and it pierced the orb on his chest like a hurled needle.

The orb cracked, fractures spreading over it like a spider-web. Mega Man flew in close as Aeros teetered around in confusion, the virus fighting to retain its control. Using all the strength in his young, but powerful muscles Mega Man punched the orb. It shattered under the blow and the wind immediately began to die down as his friends melted away the ice around their boots.

"You didn't get infected did you?" Rush asked worriedly. "I don't think touching the inside of those orbs is something any robot would want to do."

"Nah, I'm doing a full scan now, I'm fine," Mega Man assured as the storm all around them gave way to a gentle, if chilly, breeze and the clouds changed from dark to white flecked with gold and red by the 'sun'.

"Wow, what a view," Glace said as she walked up to the edge of the platform.

"Yeah, it's pretty awesome," Mega Man said, walking up beside her. "When we get out of here I want to show you a real sunset from a mountain-top. It's really cool."

"Okay," Glace said with a smile. "I'm holding you to that."

"Alright you two," Axl said "Enough of your lovey dovey stuff right now."

"Ew, we're not in love," Mega Man said.

"Yeah," Glace said, sounding disgusted. "We're just friends."

"Regardless, Axl's right that we don't have time for this now," Site said.

"You're right," Mega Man agreed. "Lord Aeros, I hate to run like this, but we can't delay any longer. We need to save Neo Arcadia, find X and hear his counsel on Sigma."

"Yes, so I shall make my thanks brief. Thank you for freeing me Mega Man, and may the winds be at your back."

"You're welcome," Mega Man said. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to have any way to help speed us towards the exit would you?"

"Like this?" Lord Aeros said as a helicopter appeared on the platform.

"Yep, that'll do," Mega Man said, hopping into the cockpit. It was a pretty simple vehicle, just a cockpit and some space behind it, but enough for all of them to squeeze into.

"Wait for us!" the three cyber-elves cried. "Why do we always end up forgotten?" they said in unison, sounding quite indignant.

"Because you're small and easy to forget," Axl quipped cheekily. In response all three elves pulled on his hair hard, causing him to repeatedly mutter 'ow ow ow' as he tried to get them off. Mega Man started the helicopter and soon they were flying, making for the exit.

When they came to the exit the helicopter vanished, dropping them onto the platform. Though it came without warning, the distance was small enough for it not to matter. When they righted themselves they stepped into the elevator and continued upwards. "Do you think our parents are worried about us?" Net asked. Site and Axl fell into silence, looking down sadly. Sure they weren't really his parents, but Axl felt bad all the same, he'd lived with them long enough to feel like his parents.

"We shouldn't have left without telling them," Site said sadly. "They'll be worrying about us."

"You shouldn't have left at all," Mega Man said, folding his arms.

"Hey! You wouldn't have gotten this far without us," Axl said. "And if I hadn't come here I wouldn't have remembered that I'm a handsome and awesome war hero."

"Nice to see you're humble about it," Site said sarcastically.

"I know! I'm amazing in every way," Axl added.

"We'll get out of this alive," Net said. "And we'll see them again." Site and Axl both nodded their agreement to this statement as the elevator began to slow.

"The elevator's stopping," Mega Man said. They stepped off and into a dim, misty marsh. Almost immediately Mega Man heard his boots splash into thick, muddy water, and sink a little into the sediment. There seemed to be some remains of a road, because dry ground occasionally surfaced above the water and bore signs of pavement. Around them though were water, mud and reeds, with the occasional mossy tree branching up against the dark, partly moonlit sky.

"It's kind of spooky," Site muttered nervously, hanging back near the elevator.

"Yeah what level is this?" Mega Man asked.

"Processing I think," Glace said. "It was a place where newly constructed Reploids could hang out while they got used to themselves and others, like a Nursery of sorts. There're a couple factories here too for last minute touch ups."

"Yup, it's also a vacation spot," Atla said.

"Or was. The Dark Elves did something special to this area," Mun added. "Used a special weapon of some kind."

"And it's said that the ghosts of the dead inhabitants still haunt these marshes, raising their broken bodies as zombies," Lem finished honestly.

"Ghosts huh?" Site said his voice pitched unusually high. "Have fun, I'm not moving away from the elevator."

"Site's afraid of ghosts," Net explained to Mega Man.

"Ghosts are scientifically impossible," Mega Man said. "At best they'll be cyber-elves posing as ghosts."

"Don't worry Site, it's just a story," the cyber-elves said cheerily.

"Fine," Site muttered. As they began to trudge through the mud of the marsh, trying to stay on the remains of the road, Site stuck extremely close to the group, particularly Mega Man. Periodically Mega Man had to re-position just to keep Site from impeding him in anyway.

"Why do you keep trying to walk so close to me?" Mega Man asked.

"Well you're the strongest," Site muttered.

"There're no such things as ghosts," Mega Man said again. "Stop being afraid, whatever's in here is perfectly scientific."

"Just because it's scientific doesn't mean it's not scary," Site said quietly.

"Well stop getting so close, it's hard enough walking through the marsh without you clinging to me," Mega Man replied with annoyance.

"This used to be a meadow," Glace said. "A meadow with a clear, blue river running through it and around the town and forest. To think it got re-shaped so severely."

"What's that!" Site cried suddenly, looking out into the fog. Mega Man followed his gaze, but saw nothing but empty fog.

"You're seeing things bro," Net said, patting his brother on the back.

"Maybe," Mega Man interrupted. "But don't be so quick to dismiss things in this place." He'd looked around and scanned the fog with all his sensors. It seemed possible that there had been something there, but not even his scanners could tell for sure. Soon the marsh began to give way to a very dim and spooky forest. Its trees and branches were gnarled and twisted, lacking leaves and thick with webs and mist floated across the ground.

"As if this place wasn't scary enough," Site squeaked, trying to keep as close to everyone as he could. "We haven't even seen any enemies, where are they hiding? Or are they all around us and we can't see them." Despite Site's words being terrified ramblings there was a point that Mega Man knew was true; why hadn't they met any opposition?

They were still trudging through the mud of the marsh when something stirred near them. Mega Man was immediately alert and Site seemed ready to fire at the air. Standing up from the mud and water was a rather rusted and decayed looking Pantheon. Its single eye was dim and flickering and its armour-skin was torn and missing, showing its internal synthetics and mechanics. Mud and marsh plants still clung to it as it stumbled slowly forwards, its head occasionally rolling lazily. It was, for all intents and purposes, a zombie. "Zombie Pantheons," Glace muttered in awe. "Anubis Necromancess used to use them."

"I think now I see why upgrading their internals wasn't a good idea," Atla said.

"Yeah, now it looks disgusting," Mun said.

"Agreed," Lem said. Mega Man promptly shot it and it collapsed back into the mud, synthetic blood splattered into the marsh waters.

"Just a bunch of broken robots?" Site said, almost with relief. "Heh, that's not that scary."

"Told you," Net said, jabbing his brother in the ribs. "A bunch of broken robots isn't scary."

"Speak for yourselves," Axl, Mega Man and Glace all said.

"Oh... right," Net muttered as Mega Man walked over to the broken pile of metal and synth.

"This is horrible," Mega Man muttered.

"Disturbing's the word I'd use. It's just plain... wrong," Axl added. "Restarting broken robots without restoring their AI's, or even fixing them. Who's that sick and twisted?"

"I don't know," Mega Man replied sadly, finally looking away from the horrible sight and ushering them into the forest. "The sooner we can find the Guardian of this level, the sooner we can put things right."


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

As they made their way through the dark woods Mega Man was glad to be on solid ground again, but Glace now seemed to be the one who was shrinking in fear, though Site still seemed wary. She kept looking up at the webs worriedly and had joined Site in huddling near Mega Man. The Blue Bomber sighed with exasperation, but a part of him wondered if something might pop up that scared him. 'What _am _I scared of anyways?' he thought. There were plenty of things; spikes for instance, but he wasn't terrified of them.

"Why are you afraid of spiders Glace?" Mega Man asked.

"I'm not afraid of spiders," Glace defended, sounding indignant.

"Look a giant spider!" Axl cried out, pointing into the trees.

"Where!" Glace cried out in terror, sprouting twin spikes of ice from her hands and looking around frantically. "Axl! That's mean!" she cried angrily, punching him in the stomach; not hard, but hard enough to make him say 'oof!'

"Heh, but I proved you're afraid of spiders," Axl rasped as he clutched his stomach.

"Fine, I'm afraid of spiders. They're just so creepy looking, and spider-shaped elves or robots always seem particularly dangerous," Glace explained. "And they hide well."

"Lucky for you we can't change shape right now," Atla said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"I think that's an interesting train of thought," Axl said. "Today on Axl in the Evening we discuss our fears and why we have them," he added, putting on a radio-type voice and pretending to hold a microphone. "You just heard the ice reploid Glace's fear; spiders. The eldest of the Hikari Twins also mentioned his fear; ghosts. Do you have a reason for it Site?"

"Oh come on Axl, this is stupid," Site moaned.

"It seems Site is being a jerk, so we'll go to someone else."

"Well if you cut the radio thing," Site said.

"Fine, but seriously why's someone as smart as you afraid of ghosts?" Axl asked.

"I dunno. I've seen ghost-like things made in labs; like battle holograms. I don't like things avoid all my senses," Site explained. "What are you afraid of Axl?"

"I'm not afraid of anything," he said confidently.

"Really?" Mega Man asked. "So you won't mind if I double check with my brother on that?"

"Nope."

"Alright then, I'll make sure to do that next time we see him," Mega Man taunted.

"I think he's lying," Mun said. "I'm sure I heard X mention his friend Axl once. Something about being afraid of being weird."

"That's not it!" Axl cried, but covered his mouth immediately afterwards. "I mean, uh, I never said that. I'm not afraid of anything."

"Of course not," Mega Man teased.

"Aw don't tease him Mega Man," Glace said.

"No it's okay Glace," Axl muttered sombrely. "If we're talking about our fears... I guess it's fair that I come clean." He took a deep breath and spoke, "I'm afraid of people rejecting me, I guess. People who try to hurt me or exclude me because I'm different."

"How're you different?" Net asked.

"None of you were around in my time, so I doubt you'd understand, but I'm the only reploid of my kind. I can change shape, and what's worse is I was a prototype for an army of shapeshifting robots. Even in the Maverick Hunters I wasn't always trusted. Nobody ever wanted me around 'cause I'm the weird one. X and Zero were the ones who understood and got people to accept me, but I've never forgotten that time." When Axl finished explaining he looked quite sad.

"No, I know how you feel," Mega Man said.

"How?"

"I was among the first of my kind, of our kind. It's not easy being the only kid in school with a metal skeleton or the kid who never sweats when he runs. Or what about the fact that I didn't need to breathe? The only reason I got into a habit of breathing was because it scared people when I didn't," Mega Man explained. "It got easier for me because more Robot Masters began to appear, not counting my siblings. It's sad that you were left alone."

"Don't worry though Axl, we're all here with you now," Site said.

"And you're a hero, I don't care if you're a bit different," Glace said. "And I know the whole Resistance thought the same."

Axl smiled. "Thanks guys," he said. "You know what? Enough talk about fears, it's getting me down."

"You know I can't get over how few obstacles we've encountered," Net said. He'd barely finished talking when dozens of red eyes appeared in the darkness peering out from the shadows around them, and from the trees above.

"Had to open your big mouth didn't you?" Mega Man teased.

"They're cyber-elves!" Lem cried. At this the spiders shot sticky gobs of web at the three cyber-elves, pinning them against the trees or ground under a layer of thick web.

"Atla! Mun! Lem!" Glace cried. She moved to help, but the spiders gathered in front of her and she backed up, trying to summon her ice weapons. Mega Man, Axl, Site and Net on the other hand were doing their best to fight off spiders focused on them, and were slowly gathering more web on their bodies, slowing them down. Even Rush and Scout were slowing down.

"Glace! You have to rescue the elves!" Mega Man cried, switching to the Flamethrower. The fire burned away the spiders surrounding them, and the webs seemed to crumble without their spinners. "Use fire weapons and keep them at bay," Mega Man told the twins and Axl. Then he dashed over to the almost paralyzed Glace who was backing up against a tree as the spiders prepared web. Mega Man jumped and landed right on the spider's head and shot flame into it at point-blank range.

"Mega Man!" Glace cried, snapping out of her trance.

"Glace! Pull yourself together!" Mega Man cried. "Whatever they've done to you in the past, spiders are spiders."

"I-I," Glace suttered. Mega Man turned and blasted the other spiders with flame, dodging a strike from their poisoned fangs. He wasn't sure if their poison would have any effect on him, but he didn't want to find out.

"Glace, you can't run away from your fear; you have to confront it," Mega Man said comfortingly. "Now come on, we're all here with you. I know you can fight back."

Glace nodded and sprouted blades of ice from her hands. "You're right Mega Man," she said.

"I always am," Mega Man replied with a wink. "Okay everyone! Spider stopping, knock 'em out and then we can get moving." Fire and ice flew around the forest and the spiders squealed as they collapsed and vanished into a cloud of darkness. Glace used her ice powers to chill the creatures and that made them slow down, leaving them wide open for the boys to take them out. The elves did their part, firing bolts of light that damaged the spider's eyes, as did the robo-dogs who tore at the spider's legs. Glace's cold abilities kept the spiders from moving fast enough to web them, and they made much more progress taking them out.

After what Mega Man calculated to be about fifteen minutes the last spider dispersed and the group dropped to the dusty ground to get a quick rest. The twins were gasping as they caught their breath and the robots were just letting their bodies rest. "Thanks for the help Glace," Axl said.

"And thank you Mega Man for helping me gain the courage to fight my fear," Glace said with a smile.

"Don't mention it Glace," Mega Man replied brightly. "Okay everyone, we need to get moving before more of them come." The group got up and he led them through the woods, moving faster than they had before. He hoped there would be no manifestation of his fears in this area, he wasn't sure if he could take his own advice in that event. He'd discovered what his fear was, but he didn't want to dwell on it at all. 'Skull Man... he knew fear. A robot built for combat and designed so that he would be intimidating.'

"Look, a fence," Net said. They rushed over to it, the forest thinning out as they neared it. The fence was tall and barbed and the remnants of the road they'd been following ran right through a gate; the part of the fence Net had seen. On the other side was a cracked and broken paved road running through an industrial looking town. The houses were closest, and all they could make out through the mist, and were broken and decayed. Some of them had the remains of wooden fences rotting away in their front yards, and others had doors hanging from their hinges.

"Let's take a look," Net said, tearing the gate off its hinges and loving the chance to show off the enhanced strength the suit gave him. "That was so cool."

"Yeah, yeah, you're as big a show-off as Mega Man," Site lectured. "Now let's get going."

"Good job Net," Mega Man commended; high fiving Net. "What's wrong with showing off a little?"

"Yeah Site, what's wrong with that?" Axl asked.

"It makes you seem self-centered," Site answered. "It's just kind of annoying."

"I'm just having fun," Net protested.

"So Glace, I guess this was the town where the newly made stayed," Mega Man said, wandering over to one of the decaying houses. The lawn was still somewhat green, but looked unhealthy and the length of the grass was uneven. Through the dusty windows Mega Man could just barely see the tumbled insides, like there was a struggle at some point. The mist hung over the town and the sky was murky and cloudy as ever.

"Okay Mega Man, even I have to admit this place is kinda creepy," Axl said. "I feel like another zombie's going to pop out from nowhere."

"Ravenshire right?" Glace asked the elves.

"Yup, this is Ravenshire," they confirmed.

"Ravenshire? Reminds me of a computer game," Mega Man commented. He lead them down the misty street, glancing down some side streets and wondering what lurked in the mist. He was sure he saw flickering red lights down one of them, but couldn't be certain. "So who're we looking for here?" he asked the elves.

"Lord Bios, that's what he used to call himself. When the area was lost the last transmission from it said 'Bios is no more, I am Necros'," Atla explained.

"Any idea where he might be?" Mega Man pressed.

"Actually... no," the elves said.

"This area was built as a relaxation spot, so there are no central maintenance facilities."

Mega Man sighed, letting out a long breath. "I know I'm probably going to regret this decision, but I think we should split up to search."

"As dangerous as that could end up being, I have to agree," Site said. "We can communicate through our helmet transmitters."

"Yeah," Mega Man affirmed. "Okay so Site, Net, Axl and the elves will be one group, and Glace, myself and the robo-dogs will be the second."

"Ohh, you want some alone time with your girl," Axl teased. In response Glace punched him again, but he still kept laughing through being winded, and Mega Man blushed so bright he was sure he looked like a tomato.

"Shut up Axl," he snapped. "Pull his hair guys," he told the elves.

"Ow, ow, ow," Axl cried as the elves did as they were told.

"Now, Axl, your team go down that way," Mega Man said pointing down a side-street to his left. "And my team will go down here," he finished, pointing down a side-street on his right. "If you find anywhere that Lord Necros could be hiding; contact the other group and make your way to their position."

"Got it," Axl said. "Let's go guys," he cried and the three of them dashed into the mist, the elves floating around them.

"Well, let's go," Mega Man said to Glace who nodded, and they and the dogs dashed down the other street. It led them through more of the neighbourhood, and the houses, and eventually low-rise apartment buildings, all shared a ruined, and blasted state. "Guess the war really hit this place hard," Mega Man mused, looking up at one of the apartment buildings.

A low groan echoed out from the torn apart doors of the building and a number of Pantheon Zombies stumbled out, moving a bit quicker than the one from the marsh, but not much. "Uh Mega Man," Glace said, tugging at his arm. He turned around to see common reploids shambling from some of the houses, similarly zombified and slow, but in high numbers.

"Just keep moving," Mega Man said, shooting down the zombies with ease. He didn't like shooting real, civilian mode reploids, but he didn't think he'd have much of a choice in this case. But for every zombie he shot down it seemed another two appeared, and some continued to crawl forwards as just torsos. On closer inspection their synth-flesh had been torn away and their skeletal fingers extended into claws. He kept shooting as they moved, but zombies seemed to appear wherever he went.

"We could fly," Rush suggested.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Mega Man said as their path became blocked by the shambling robots. They backed down another side-street that was narrower than either of the previous two, Mega Man and Glace doing what they could to keep their pursuers from getting far.

"Where do they keep coming from?" Rush asked.

"People took refuge here during the war," Glace said. "The invaders, the defenders and the refugees, they all fell here when... something happened."

"How many were there?" Mega Man asked, fearing the answer.

"Thousands," Glace answered sombrely.

"Of course," Mega Man muttered. "Well we keep going. Let me try Airblast, the weapon I got from Lord Aeros." He changed colours to white with green trim and fired. A burst of compressed air shot out a short distance, almost like a shot gun. It still hit the zombie he was aiming at, but didn't seem to do much. He dashed up closer to it and fired right into its head, and this time the effect was much greater. The Pantheon Zombie fell right to the ground, though Mega Man felt like he would throw up at the sight of its head rolling off.

"It works, aim for the head," Mega Man said.

"I think this heads into the heart of the industrial sector," Glace said as they ran down the street. The zombies shuffled towards them from behind, but there didn't seem to be many ahead of them. Quite suddenly Mega Man dashed off into the yard of one of the nearby yards and into the door of the apartment building, which all the buildings were at this point.

"Come on!" he called from the doorway. "I want to try to lose them on the roof."

"That doesn't seem very-" Scout said, stopping as Glace took off after him.

"Just go with it," Rush advised as they hurried to catch up. "As insane as his plans are, Mega Man always manages to make them work."

"I can hear you," Mega Man called back. The interior of the apartment building was trashed and ruined like everything else. The lobby chairs and bits from behind the front desk were strewn about and in pieces, but seemed to have been formed into a barricade at one point. The elevators were also out of service, as Mega Man had expected.

"Mega Man, come look at this," Rush said and Mega Man dashed over. Lying under one of the tumbled couches was a battered Pantheon. On further inspection Mega Man found a number of these reploids of varying models.

"That's gross," Mega Man said. "I feel sorry for them, but I don't like seeing their broken bodies."

"Yes, but I was thinking these might-" before Rush could finish however, the reploids stirred and slowly got to their feet.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me!" Mega Man cried blasting the one he'd been looking at with Airblast. "Let's go!" he said, grabbing Glace's hand and dashing up the stairs, with the dogs following behind. The stairs came to a stop in a hallway and a faded sign pointed down the hall towards the next set of stairs. "Oh, sorry," he muttered, letting go of Glace's hand.

"It's fine."

"So how did these robots become like this anyways?" Mega Man asked as they made their way down the hallway and over the tumbled wreckage strewn out from the various apartments.

"Y'know I'm really not sure," Glace said. "As the elves said the fall of this sector is rather mysterious."

"You picking up anything on it Rush?" Mega Man asked as he inspected one of the apartments briefly.

"I'm not sure Mega Man," Rush replied. "There's this weird disruption field to my sensors, I can't make heads or tails of it."

"So you noticed too then," Mega Man said.

"What? When did you-?" Glace asked.

"When we were resting after the spiders. I took that time to try and scan the source of the zombie we saw earlier; and my readings got all scrambled."

"What could it mean?" Glace asked.

"If I had to guess," Mega Man began as they reached the stairs and began climbing, "I'd say a permeating suppressive-electric field. In other words a field of energy designed to animate broken robots, but suppress all other functions besides motor skills."

"Wow," Glace said, impressed. "You like your big words don't you?"

"Did I confuse you?" Mega Man asked.

"Nah, just impressed with what you were able to come up with despite the lack of information."

"It's just a theory."

"A good one," Glace commented. "I think we're at the top," she added as the stairs ended at a door. Mega Man opened it and they walked out onto the top of the building. There were the remains of a barricade and charring from fires. It looked like people had been camped out here for a while. The apartment building rooftops stretched a ways in front of them, but from the vantage point Mega Man could make out the shapes of factories in the fog.

"Guess the zombie fight made it to the rooftops," Mega Man muttered, looking over the edge at the zombies shambling around below, most of them wandering into alleys or broken houses. There were groaning sounds from the stairwell and Mega Man quickly slammed the door shut and crushed the doorknob to keep it from opening normally. Then he dashed to the edge of the building and looked across the gap to the next apartment.

"Are you sure about this?" Scout asked.

"I'm always sure," Mega Man said confidently. "All of us can make it, so let's go!"


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

"Look houses, that's refreshing," Net complained as his group wandered through the other side of the residential district. At Axl's insistence they'd decided to take a couple turns and now found themselves distinctly lost, the ever present fog and dingy skies only helping to worsen their situation. "Good idea Axl," Net added sarcastically.

"Aw come on, we're not that bad off," Axl defended. Their communicators all buzzed at that moment and Mega Man spoke from the other end.

"Net, Site, Axl, do you read me?"

"Yeah we read you," Site said. "What is it?"

"The town is infested with zombie robots. If you haven't seen them yet, then you will soon. Be careful."

"We haven't seen anything," Net said. "I think there were some busted Pantheons in one of the houses we passed."

"Yeah that's them. They've been disguised as wreckage."

"We'll keep an eye out for them," Axl said.

"Okay, Mega Man out."

"Nothing's ever easy is it?" Net said as they kept walking.

"Picking up chicks at the park; that's pretty easy," Axl said. "They get one look at... well my older body, and they can't resist."

"Do you pretend to be their boyfriends?" Site asked cheekily.

"Shut up," Axl protested. "And no, I have natural charm."

"Sure," Net said.

"What about you and Maylu?" Site teased, his brother immediately turning a bright shade of red.

"Sh-shut up," Net stuttered. "We're just friends."

"You too huh?" Axl asked. "You and Mega Man, both giving the same excuse. Come on, admit you're in love with this Maylu girl."

"I'm not in love. We just like to hang out, we've known each other since we were five."

"Something's not right," Atla said suddenly. "Something just changed."

"That!" Mun cried, pointing to a broken Pantheon that began to stir and stumble to its legs. In fact the streets seemed to be coming to life with undead robots. They'd been ignoring the broken robots on the ground and under charred and crumpled cars. Now they could see how crucial Mega Man's advice was.

"We gotta move," Net said.

"We don't know where we're going," his brother pointed out.

"Then we improvise," Net countered. "Elves, do you three see anything that might help us?"

"Uh... yeah actually, some sort of sign for a store I think," Lem said. "Hard to see through the fog, but I'd say keep going and turn left." The group began moving, following the directions given by the elves. The elves couldn't fly too high, they found they would suddenly become extremely heavy and fall back down. Mun theorized it was the fog.

As they ran they took out any zombies they could, Net slicing them with his sabre and Site and Axl firing at any they could hit. "This is ridiculous," Axl said as they ran. "They go down easy enough, but they just keep coming."

"At least they're slow," Net said as they left the mob of zombies behind as it slowly trudged after them. However only moments later they ran into another horde stumbling about aimlessly; that is until they noticed the three boys.

"Yeah they're slow, but they're also everywhere," Site said.

"This way," a voice whispered to them, making them jump. They looked around for the source and finally spotted a cyber-elf resembling X, but with a black helmet with a white mask over his eyes, and black robes.

"Lord Phantom!" the three cyber-elves cried. They dashed after him as he led them between two houses and through several backyards, sometimes having them hop up onto the roofs of the buildings. Phantom took the form of a dark purple ball of light as he led them around, and despite the other three elves calling out to him, he didn't say much else.

"So is this Phantom another one of the original Guardians?" Site asked.

"Yeah, he fell to Zero fighting for the Fake Lord," Atla explained. "He joined the real X as a cyber-elf and helped govern the reborn Neo Arcadia."

"Well it's good to have his help," Site said as they hopped off a rooftop and onto a large street heading into an area of stores and restaurants. The remains of bright, neon signs hung dull and broken from the buildings; their light gone. One or two of the signs still flickered, but other than that it was as dark and dreary as the rest of the town.

"Hey where'd Phantom go?" Net said, looking around.

"I think he left; it's not safe for him to spend much time out here," Mun replied.

"Well we're out of the houses, now what?" Axl asked. "This Lord Necros is nowhere to be found."

"Then we just keep walking," Net said. "We look for any sort of large location and search it."

"I think there was a mall somewhere in this part," Lem said. "Just a little one, but it might be worth a look."

"Then that's where we go," Site said. They dashed down the street before any reploid zombies could awaken, though the streets here seemed pretty clean. This time they used rooftop navigation more and wove their way through the derelict streets of broken shops and empty restaurants.

"I want a burger," Axl said. "I got so used to eating over the last century. It's such a weird habit to pick up."

"We haven't had much to eat for days," Net complained. "Just that excuse for porridge."

"There's the mall," Site said. It was a pretty basic building, and mostly just a single story. The sounds of groaning and shuffling could be heard behind them and they whirled around to see the undead robots shambling out from buildings all down the street. Worse than that there was a horrifying howl and Pantheon Zombies crawling on four legs came dashing through the crowd.

"And there's the zombies," Net said. "Go!" They dashed for the doors and wrenched them open, hurrying inside and slamming them shut. "We need a barricade," Net said as he held the doors shut against the crawling zombies. Axl hurried to grab a few benches and other pieces of rubble and tossed them to Site who came to his brother's aid and began building the barricade around the door.

"You should be able to let go now," Axl said. "My scans say it should hold."

"Oh, so you _can _do that," Site said sarcastically.

"What? Scan? Yeah, but it's boring and tedious so I don't do it often."

"Clearly," Site replied as his brother let go of the doors. They held and after a few seconds of rattling the doors the zombie on the other side backed up and wandered around in front of the building aimlessly.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Axl asked.

"I've been wondering for a while, what's that gem on your chest for?" Net asked.

"This?" Axl asked, tapping the round blue gem set into the dark grey bodysuit armour he wore. "It's an energy armour generator, makes a sort of energy breastplate around my chest to add some extra protection to my power core."

"Why do you have one still? If I recall Zero stopped using his when he updated his armour," Site said.

"He was a melee guy, I'm ranged and none of us have the same durability as X, so I kept one to help me in fire fights."

"Okay now that we have the doors secured; at least for a little bit, we need to get searching," Net said. "I doubt Lord Necros is here, but we should at least look for clues."

"The Security Station might have something," Atla said.

"Then we'll go check it out," Site said. They fell into step behind the cyber-elves as they led the way. "So Axl, how did you get those scars on your nose?"

"These things?" Axl asked gesturing to the x over his nose. The twins nodded affirmatively. "It was during one of my first missions for Red Alert, back when I was a rookie. I was sent to hunt down this Venator, some kind of dangerous Maverick who delighted in killing humans. He used wrist mounted blades as his main weapons and when I fought him he cut them across my face."

"Did you win in the end?" Net asked.

"Barely, but yeah. Had to get him back for scarring this handsome face," Axl added. "Worked out better in the end, girls like the scars."

"Always with the girls," Site sighed.

"I hope looking like I'm ten doesn't ruin my charm."

"Mega Man seems to manage, and he doesn't even want it," Net pointed out.

"Yeah that guy's a little stud."

"Here we are," the elves chimed in. Net opened the door in front of them and they stepped into an office with plenty of computers and electronic devices sitting around the room, along with the screen showing the several security camera views though not all of them seemed to be working.

"So remember, we're looking for anything that could give us a clue about where Lord Necros might be," Net said.

They searched the room from top to bottom, checking computer records, looking through filing cabinets and any nooks and crannies where something could be hidden. After about half an hour of searching later they had still found nothing. "I don't think there's anything in here," Axl said exhaustedly from a chair he was lounging in. The twins were still focused on the computers and sifting through everything they could find.

"We're still looking through their database," Net said, "We still might find something."

"Actually I think I just did," Site said. He gestured for the other two to come to the computer he was on which was showing a wavy line jumping back and forth across a window he'd brought up. "It's a signal and it's transmitting from here to somewhere in the city and it's following a similar wavelength as another signal that's broadcasting across the entire city. So if we trace the latter one by following the one coming from here, we can find out where it's coming from."

"Cool," Axl said. "While you do that, I'm gonna check in with the big M and see what he's doing."

((()))

"It must be tough for factory-line androids," Mega Man mused as the four of them jumped down from a factory roof onto a catwalk outside and hanging over a shadowed alley below. The catwalk ran along the brick wall of the factory and to a door leading into the factory housing. "I mean, to have been put together by other machines; primitive machines, and to have no human or fellow robot to really call their parent."

"It's not that bad really, a lot of my friends were factory-line reploids and they considered the factory administrator their parent," Glace explained. "But you're right, it's weird to think those primitive machines help put the majority of our kind together. But humans and other reploids and real robots help too; those primitive arms and drones mostly just hold things in place."

"Hey, how do you scare a drone?" Mega Man asked jokingly. "You can't, they don't have an emotional capacity or developed enough internal hardware to simulate fear."

The other three giggled, even the silent Scout. "How's that funny?" the voice of Site said through Mega Man's communicator. "Axl heard it too, and he's laughing."

"Sorry, it's a robot joke," Mega Man said, "So what's up Site?"

"We found the location of Lord Necros. I traced a couple signals flying around back to their source. There's something in the northern part of town, the elves say it used to be a nursery so we're going to head there and see what we can find."

"Oh, I know that spot," Glace said, "I used to help out there sometimes."

"We'll rendezvous with you guys there then," Mega Man said, "Mega Man out."

They had entered the factory housing and came to a flight of stairs that descended down into the administration offices, and Mega Man was glad that only a handful of zombies had appeared in the factory so far. That was positive, at least for now. They exited the offices down stairs and came out into a lobby near the front doors which they promptly used.

The streets were darker, with the shadows of the factories blocking out most of the already dim light. As they made their way through the streets around the factories they also came to many wooden and aluminum barricades, made from pieces of scrap crudely fashioned together to keep the zombies at bay. Mega Man just tore them down and fired at the zombies that would shamble through the streets after them.

"It'd be bad to be claustrophobic here," Mega Man said as they wove through the narrow streets and alleys and came to an especially well constructed barricade. "I'm not moving that," he added.

"I wasn't expecting you to. Come on, the catwalks go around it," Glace said, pointing to a factory side-door. Mega Man pulled the door open and they entered into a production line area where half-made reploids sat in fetal positions, awaiting completion or being modified. Their synthetics were looking faded and torn from disuse. "That's so sad," she said, walking up to one, a boy, who looked about her and Mega Man's age. His eyes were closed and his skin hadn't yet been fully overlaid, but it looked like he was designed to be athletic.

"It is," Mega Man muttered. "We'll get this place running though, and they'll get to live."

"Yeah, you're right," Glace agreed. They looked around the area and found stairs leading up to a catwalk, which they promptly used. "Do you remember your first steps?" she asked Mega Man as they walked.

"Yeah I do, Dr. Light helped both me and Roll get used to our feet and our systems. It only took a couple hours."

"Took me a day, I guess all androids learn at their own pace."

"Yup, and we were some of the first. I was so nervous when Dr. Light presented me and Roll at his robotics conference. A gathering of the best roboticists in the world, and we'd only been active for a week. We were his presentation to the conference, and we had to impress them."

"That shouldn't have been hard," Glace said, "You were the only two of your kind, I would think you would easily have impressed anyone."

"Yeah, but I hadn't met any other robots at the time. We were still learning about things around the house. It's weird to think I didn't bother breathing back then; Dr. Light never cared so I never really knew it was unusual. I didn't eat then either, I was a lot more primitive acting back then."

"You were a baby," Glace pointed out, "Since when do androids come off the construction table knowing everything?"

"Yeah yeah, anyways so we were presented to roboticists, and we really didn't have to do anything except come into the room and chat to some of the scientists for a bit. They were really impressed and dad, or Dr. Light, said he was really proud of us and brought us out to a restaurant. That was the first time I ate."

"You always have such sweet stories," Glace said brightly. "Being in these places just brings back so many early operation memories."

"I know what you mean," Mega Man sighed. They came to the catwalk and strolled along to the door leading outside. The catwalks, as he understood it, were to link the factories quickly and easily without requiring foremen to leave one officially to enter another. As they made their way around the catwalks they eventually came to a housing rooftop, linked to the catwalks by wooden planks and aluminum. Luckily it was sturdy enough to hold their weight and they made their way to the rooftop without much trouble.

There was suddenly a loud howl that made Mega Man's skin crawl at the sound. He looked around through the streets and rooftops to see a number of spindly Pantheons crawling on all fours with especially long claws running down the streets and jumping across rooftops in the distance. "They're fast," Glace commented as a crawling zombie jumped towards their rooftop. Mega Man blasted it with his airblast and it dropped to the ground far below, cut down in mid-jump. More came though, crawling up pipes and any other method they could use to get to the rooftops.

"Mega Man," whispered a voice from nearby. Mega Man looked to his left to see a boy, about X's age, in black robes and helmet. He was standing on the edge of a water tank, meant for pumping water to places around the factories. The boy gestured to follow him and, with exchanged shrugs, Mega Man and Glace jumped across the gap and into the tank, the dogs following suite. They clambered out up a ladder and followed the cyber-elf across the catwalks and makeshift paths amongst the rooftops; occasionally climbing down into the dark streets below.

"Who are you?" Mega Man asked as they came to an industrial elevator on a low roof.

"Phantom. Enter the elevator, and go through the factory, and follow the street to the graveyard." Before Mega Man could reply Phantom had vanished, leaving the group staring at nothing.

"Well he said take the elevator," Mega Man said, pressing the button to call it.

"Oh... Lord Phantom, of course!" Glace said. "One of the old Guardians, and one of the four clones of X using his DNA."

"So like Harpuia?"

"Exactly."

Mega Man whirled around and blasted a crawling zombie as it clambered up onto the rooftop, sending it falling right back down. It seemed to signal something, because there was suddenly a chorus of gurgling and groaning as crawling zombies swarmed the building. They made their way up the walls, Mega Man blasting them down again as the elevator rumbled upwards behind him. Glace helped too, blasting them down with ice shards.

At last the final zombie plummeted from the walls and the elevator made slight 'ding' as it arrived. "Let's get on before more come," Mega Man said, ushering Glace and the dogs onto the platform and closing the grill. "So I guess the nursery became a graveyard," Mega Man mused. "I guess that fits the whole 'zombie' theme here."

"The zombies we destroy... what will happen to them when we beat Lord Necros?"

"I imagine they'll get fixed up and turned back to normal," Mega Man said, "I hope so anyways."

"I hope so too," Glace replied worriedly.

"I hate fighting, but what the virus has caused here is unforgivable," Mega Man said angrily, "Turning innocent reploids into weapons, and making us hurt them to even make a few steps." He wasn't sure he'd ever felt this angry before. Civilian robots being forced to fight, and with their will and intelligence removed, the thought of these things made him want to fight the virus itself more than ever.

The elevator came to a stop at the end of a short corridor leading out into another large factory room. This one consisted of various synthetics that had been under construction. There were energy cores, looking like hearts like his own, and various other bits and pieces that should be inside an android instead of abandoned on a conveyor belt. "This is gross," Glace said, "Let's hurry and get out of this place."

"Agreed," Mega Man replied and they hurried across to the door which led into a hallway. They followed it along until they came to a door leading outside again, though not the main ones. This door led out into an alley with a fence over the only exit and a drum with a fire burning in it. With ease Mega Man tore the fence down and stepped out onto a wider street than anywhere in the industrial zone. It led down a hill and there, at the bottom, surrounded by a fence and wall was the graveyard.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

"Is that a graveyard?" Net asked as they entered onto a large street. They jumped across the rooftops from the mall for the last twenty minutes or so since they'd contacted Mega Man, and finally descended back to the ruined streets once they'd lost the zombies. "I thought you said it was a nursery."

"It _was_ a nursery," Atla said, "Emphasis on the 'was'."

"Obviously Lord Necros reconfigured it into a more suitable place for the Land of Death," Mun continued.

"We need to find Mega Man before we go in though," Site said.

"I can call him up," Axl suggested. The others agreed and Axl opened his communicator's link to Mega Man's. "Mega Man, it's Axl. Are you looking at a graveyard?"

"Yeah, where are you guys?"

"Um... it says Ortus Road," Axl said, spotting a dilapidated but barely readable sign.

"We're on Via Spiritus," Mega Man said.

"Really?" Lem asked. "That's just the other side of the buildings to our right; your left."

"We'll meet you on top then," Mega Man said and cut the transmission. They hopped up to the top of the housing block and saw Mega Man and Glace standing there with the dogs and greeted them cheerily.

"How did things go with you?" Net asked.

"Factories, it got kinda gross," Mega Man said, "Synthetics lying all over the place and hanging out of half-finished reploids."

"Ugh, that does sound bad," Axl commented. "We just went through some stores and stuff."

"You got lucky. But then again... a graveyard," Mega Man muttered. "Are you all ready?" Everyone nodded agreement and they jumped down over the fences and walls surrounding the graveyard and into it, landing amidst the field of tombstones. Many were broken and tumbled, with broken cobblestone paths running amidst them. In the middle of the graveyard was a large, gothic-styled crypt and it was clear to Mega Man that it was there they needed to go.

"This looks too easy," Site said apprehensively.

"Then let's go before it gets hard," Net urged, at which they dashed across the graveyard towards the crypt. The howls of crawling zombies echoed through the dark as they came to the base of the hill. Then they appeared; a horde of zombies larger than anything any of them had seen. They were at the walls and fences on the outside and clawing at them, while others were clambering out of the graves, and still others emerged from the crypt. "Too late," Net sighed.

"Any chance to shoot things," Axl said happily, "Though even I have to admit I'm starting to get sick of this."

They shot into the thick of the shambling robots, but they just kept coming. What's worse was they were surrounded, zombies coming from the crypt and the bottom of the hill. Everyone had to keep turning to make sure they weren't being struck from behind. Angrily Mega Man switched weapons to the Flamethrower and fired into the crowd, but aimed more at the ground so as to set it alight. The abundance of synthetics and dry, dead grass helped and a fire struck up, burning the zombies who walked through it.

Whirling around Mega Man shifted to Airblast and fired a Level Two charged shot, causing a miniature tornado to fire out from his buster and tear through the zombies standing between them and the crypt. The attack managed to score them an opening and they took it, dashing through any zombies still standing and down the stone steps into the dank, dark underground of the crypt.

The stairs wound down and down and Mega Man felt like he was in the caves of the earth area again. At last they opened up into a large, but dimly lit chamber. It was square shaped, with a hallway leading off from each corner and lit by a handful of torches and a strange glowing purple circle in the middle of the room. A number of robots stood guard at the hall entrances, or patrolled the room. What struck Mega Man as odd, though, was they were nothing but skeletons; moving ceramic titanium frameworks and some weren't even coloured to look like bone.

"It's like Night of the Living Half-mades," Mega Man muttered with a shiver.

"You've seen that movie too?" Axl asked cheerily, "It's so scary."

"More gruesome, but awesome either way," Mega Man replied, to which Axl patted him on the back.

"You got great taste in movies for an old guy," Axl added.

"I'm only a hundred years older than you," Mega Man protested, "Anyways, four halls, wandering creepy skeletons and a purple circle in the middle. My scans are telling me the purple thing is a teleporter, but it's inactive."

"Meaning we have to fight our way through skeletons and knock out whoever's at the end of each hall," Site finished.

"No guarantee there'll be fighting at the end of each hall... but you're probably right," Mega Man mused. He counted down on his fingers and they went into action, blasting the skeletons or slicing through them. They proved to be almost as weak as the zombies, but also had numbers on their side and fought with simple swords and wrist mounted plasma blasters. Nonetheless they fell to the group and when the last one collapsed the group looked around to the four hallways.

"Splitting up might get things done quicker," Net suggested.

"Maybe, but we don't know what we're up against this time," Glace replied.

"We stay together," Mega Man said, "We move down each hall one at a time."

"You're the boss," Axl said, "Which hall comes first?"

Mega Man pointed down the one to the one in the near left corner and the group set out. As they moved down the dark hall Mega Man felt something sticky on the ground and walls. He shifted his eyes into low-light mode and saw the hall was thick with webs. "I think I have a pretty good idea what's down here," he said, "Turn on your low-light vision."

There was a slight pause while everyone did as told, Net and Site having to lower a visor to see. When they finally got a look around, Glace groaned loudly. "Haven't we had enough spiders?" she asked bitterly.

"You can handle a few more," Mega Man assured.

"Doesn't mean I want to though."

"Whether you want to or not, here they come," Axl said, firing at a series of glowing eyes in the dark. There was the squealing sound of a spider-elf in pain and the eyes vanished in a burst of darkness. More of the spiders appeared from the dark and also strange Pantheons with spider bodies from the waist down.

"Fine, I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this," Mega Man muttered. His buster changed form, with multiple smaller barrels appearing and Site realized it had changed into a gatling gun, similar to what one of the battle chips made his own buster.

"Did you... copy me?" Site asked, feeling somehow both flattered and violated.

"Yes. Don't worry about that now, just fire," Mega Man said and fired a spray of plasma bolts into the swarm of spiders and Spider-Pantheons. The sound of explosions and squeals indicated the weapons were quite effective. "Let's go!" he cried and dashed down the now cleared hallway.

The hallway turned to the left and then straight ahead again. After this it opened into a large room that was as dimly lit as the rest of the crypt. It was round and dome shaped with webs lining the walls, floor and ceiling. Of particular note to Mega Man was the large reploids hanging from the ceiling. She was half-humanoid/half-spider, with a feminine body, spider-like head, clawed hands and a spider body below her waist.

"That's terrifying, and disgusting," Glace said, her voice having gone up a note in fright.

"How dare you insult my beauty," the reploid hissed, climbing down the webs to the floor, "I am Regina Spidus, and my beauty is as famous as the beauty of my webs."

"Regina Spidus huh?" Axl said gleefully, "I haven't fought a maverick like you in years, this is gonna be awesome!"

They jumped away from twin shots of webbing that the reploid fired from busters on her wrists. Mega Man responded by shooting Flamethrower right into her. The attack was successful and she shrieked in pain, scuttling away as the flames licking her body died down. Regina Spidus clambered back up to the ceiling, out of reach of his fire. She fired a number of thin white bolts of energy into the webs and from them emerged spider-elves.

The group took care of the spiders with little trouble and turned their attention to the reploid on the ceiling who shot some sort of green corrosive substance from its busters at them. The acid made pools on the floor, giving them less and less standing room, and they barely had time to aim a shot at her. There came a brief pause in the barrage of acid in which Axl managed to shift form mid-jump into the flying Pantheons from below. He soared up to the reploid and fired twin shots into her busters. Regina Spidus hissed angrily as they sparked and exploded, the shock of it making her lose her grip.

The reploid crashed to the ground where Mega Man was quick to lay into it with the Flamethrower, causing the reploid to squeal in agony before at last an explosion showed she'd shut down. "Good job Axl," Net cheered as Axl landed and reverted to his normal form.

"She really wasn't that hard," Axl shrugged, "I wonder why she stopped firing."

"Why would anyone stop shooting? She ran out of weapon energy," Mega Man said, inspecting the burnt body. "I imagine she was going to start with the webs or spiders again."

"What are you looking at Mega Man?" Glace asked, noticing him staring intently at something.

"This," Mega Man said, drawing something out of the robot's body. He stood up and turned around to show a glowing orb of purple energy pulsing in his hand. It felt extremely cold, so cold it made his hand sore. Everything about it repulsed him, it was hard to say why but it just did. "It reminds me of something."

"What do you think it is?" Net asked.

"Not sure," Mega Man said as they walked back down the tunnel. "I don't like it though; it's cold and painful." He swapped it to his other hand, passing the orb back and forth to help keep his hands from numbing.

When they came back to the main chamber the orb suddenly hovered away from him and towards the purple circle on the floor. It came to a stop above a stone brazier, one of four placed around the circle. The other three were in front of the other tunnels. "Maybe they're like keys," Site suggested, saying what Mega Man was thinking.

"Always the fancy traps," Axl sighed. "So which tunnel next?"

"One across from this one of course," Mega Man said, dashing across the room. His friends followed quickly and they made their way down the tunnel. They'd only gone a few feet when their boots stepped in dirt, dry, heavily calcified dirt that was almost sand.

"There wasn't anything like this anywhere in the city," Axl noted.

"There is in some parts I think," Atla said.

"It's not meant to represent parts of the area, just death and aspects of it," Mun added, "Except the spiders."

Undead Pantheons suddenly rose up from the sand in front of them, but these ones were slightly different. Parts of their bodies were covered by bandages, wrappings, like those of a mummy. Mega Man took them out anyways, but he couldn't help but notice the difference. "Any reason they have wrappings?" Mega Man asked.

"They're mummies obviously," Net said slicing his blade through one as it appeared.

"I think he got that goldilocks," Site said, tugging the yellow hair-cape hanging from his brother's helmet.

"Hey! I was just answering his question," Net pouted "And I like the hair, it's cool."

"I think I have an idea of who might be involved," Glace said. They rounded a couple corners, taking out Mummy Pantheons as they went, Axl taking particular delight in the fighting. Then they rounded the final corner and came into a square room with a coffin at the far end. "Thought so," Glace muttered.

As if in response to their presence the coffin's lid slid back to reveal a bandaged, but rather skeletal, reploid with a jackal head and humanoid body, though the loss of synthflesh meant that his armour and wrappings were the main things giving his body much form. The armour was black and gold with an obvious Egyptian style. "Anubis Necromancess!" the elves cried in fear and astonishment.

"Not quite," the reploid said in a sly, sinister sounding voice that nonetheless carried a strong command element. "I have been elevated, I am now Pharaoh Necromancess!"

"I like Anubis better," Axl said casually, "So, do you want to give us that dark orb thingie now, or do you want us to blast you apart first?"

"You will watch your tongue in my presence boy!"

"Or what?" Axl asked cheekily.

"Stop it Axl," Mega Man interrupted. "I apologize for him, sir. We can avoid a fight and help restore things to normal if you give us your orb."

"You think I want things back to normal? Under the Dark Queen I have power and soon a war to fight. Who do you think led the Dark Elf attack on this city in the first place?" Pharaoh Necromancess said cruelly.

"How dare you," Glace gasped with horror. "You betrayed your entire country for a virus and slaughtered innocent civilians!"

"And it was fun," Pharaoh laughed. "Now I grow tired of your presence. It's time to end your interloping once and for all." Pharaoh Necromancess summoned a staff from his coffin and held it in his clawed hands. It had a black gem at the top and a pair of 'wings' with gold and black striping. Pharaoh Necromancess raised the staff high and it crackled with sickly green energy; summoning several Mummy Pantheons from the sand while he hovered up into the air.

"Then you leave us no choice," Mega Man said.

"Not like these mummies are even a threat," Net said, pressing something on his armour. His sword suddenly blazed with orange energy and he brought it searing through each mummy, cutting them down. "Flame Sword!" he cried as he did so. "Nothin' to it," he gloated when they'd fallen.

More Mummy Pantheons appeared and between Net's sword, Mega Man and Site's busters, Axl's pistols, Glace's ice shards and the elves' bolts of light they made short work of them. They'd just finished dismantling a third horde when Pharaoh Necromancess swept his staff through the air and the sand around them began to shift about. Mega Man cried out when he felt his boots sink into the dirt as it became loose and air-filled; it had become dry quicksand.

At the same time Pharaoh Necromancess made other gestures with his staff that caused his coffin to fly towards Mega Man, sparking with electricity. He shifted to Terrakinesis and used a Level One charge to throw up a wall of sand that slowed the coffin almost to a stop while Axl aimed a pair of charged shots at the hovering reploid.

The twin bolts of plasma struck their target who spun around in the air and fell towards the ground. His staff flashed briefly and the ground tightened again, becoming normal ground which Pharaoh Necromancess promptly crashed into. Mega Man used the enhanced strength from Terrakinesis to easily free himself from the sand, and then shifted to the Frosthrower as he strode towards the stunned reploid. "I always give everyone a chance," he said kindly, "You're getting two now. Please surrender and we can avoid further fighting here."

"I would never surrender to commoners," Pharaoh Necromancess spat, swinging his staff at Mega Man, its tip lit in black flame like that of the Dark Cyber-Elves.

Mega Man jumped back and narrowly avoided the staff strike, his face set in a frown. "Then remember; this was your fault," he said coldly and fired, a stream of freezing mist pouring from his buster and onto the reploid. Its joints froze, its bandages hardened and everything cracked as ice encased it.

When Mega Man cut off the attack, Pharaoh Necromancess was frozen in place like an ice sculpture, with a sheen of ice surrounding him. "Remind me never to get you angry," Axl commented, "Your brother was like that too."

"He'll be fine," Mega Man said, his voice cheery again as he extracted the dark orb from the frozen maverick. "We androids are well made, he's fixable."

"Lord Bios will fix him up when he's back to normal," Glace said cheerily, "And really fix him, even helping him get over his evil."

"Can't wait to meet this Lord Bios," Mega Man said, "Now let's get back to the main chamber."

When they came back to the main chamber the orb of darkness hovered from Mega Man's palm and took its spot on the brazier. With only two halls left Mega Man chose the one adjacent to the one they'd just come out of. It seemed oddly dark, even compared to the rest of the crypt, and when they stepped into the hall not even low-light mode, or the glow from his armour, let Mega Man see much. "Something's going out of its way to block any source of visible light," Mega Man muttered. "I'd suggest using night vision now."

The switch to night vision allowed them all to see, though everything had a greenish tint to it, and they continued on down the dark hallway. Shortly into the hall there appeared two balls of blue-purple flame in the dark. They grew and took shape as transparent, hollow-eyed cyber-elves that were the very image of ghosts. At the sight of them Site let out a yelp and shrank back behind the group.

"Come on bro," Net said, pushing his brother back into position near Mega Man, "If Glace can deal with her fear then you can deal with yours."

The Ghost Elves swooped towards them; only for a pair of buster shots to cause them vanish in a burst of darkness. "See Site, nothin' to it," Mega Man said, "If you pay attention you see they become solid briefly, that's when you strike."

Site took a deep breath to help work up his courage, and nodded to let them know he was ready to start moving again. When they encountered Ghost Elves again a short distance down the hall, Site was clearly frightened, but he stood his ground and kept his aim true. The number of elves was larger this time, but between the group of them they made quick work of them all.

Like the other halls, this one proved to be quite short and they were soon entering into a room, though the darkness made seeing all of it rather difficult. From what Mega Man could see though it seemed to be a basic angular room. As he looked around it he noticed there was a thick, black-purple cloud permeating the room. In fact it seemed to be moving. No, it _was _moving! It was gathering into a large mass in front of them and as it gathered the room and hall behind them grew lighter.

"That thing, it must've been blocking the light," Site surmised.

"Yes, its mass was spread out across the hall and room," Mega Man said. By this time the room was lit as much as the rest of the crypt, and the ball-shaped cloud hovered in the middle. Its substance slowly seemed to be changing state, becoming more solid and yet shiny. Then a red eye opened in the middle of the cloud and Mega Man knew exactly what they were up against.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

"It's a Devil robot," Mega Man muttered with horror as the rounded cloud solidified into a great orb of a black-purple slime that grew two massive legs and two huge arms ending in hands that could easily squish any of them. "And it's made of the same stuff as the Dark Elf flames, only in a gelatinous form."

The jumped away as the Devil brought one of its massive fists down towards them. They just barely missed being squished. "Thanks for the analysis Professor Rock," Axl quipped, "Now how do we beat it."

"Aim for the eye," Mega Man said, at which the devil promptly closed its eye. "Yeah, it'll do that," he added.

"So we can't do anything until it opens its eye," Site surmised, "It's pretty slow though."

"It's the Black Devil," the elves said as the group moved to avoid the smashing fists of the devil.

"It was the prison guard during the war, so it knows where people are regardless of its eye being open or closed," Atla explained.

"It senses vibrations," Lem added.

"So if there were too many vibrations for it to track..." Mega Man murmured, grinning as a plan came to mind. "Okay everyone," he said quietly after having them all get out of range of the devil. It didn't really try to move towards them, at least not yet. "I want everyone to spread out and make as much racket as possible."

"To create enough vibration to blind its senses and force it to open its eye?" Site asked. "Good idea."

"How're we supposed to do that?" Net asked.

"Anything that creates vibration; yell, scream, stomp, anything," Mega Man explained. "And we'll keep moving too, that'll confuse it more. Ready?" Everyone nodded and then Mega Man shouted 'go' and they spread out, making as much noise and raucous as they possibly could. Most of it was insults at the robot, or just nonsensical yelling. They ran around it, stomped their feet, and struck the plated parts of their armour together.

Mega Man grinned when he saw the devil's attacks become far less precise and it began turning around to try and get a bead on them. Then at last it opened its red eye to look around. In that instant they all struck at once. Mega Man used a level one charged Flamethrower, Glace fired a large shard of ice, Site used a fire battle chip of some kind, and Net surprised everyone by hurling his sabre like a boomerang.

The attacks all struck home at the same time and there was a brief moment of silence as Net's sabre returned to his hand. Then the Black Devil groaned and collapsed to the ground in mound of purple-black goo. Mega Man hurried forwards as it began to evaporate and scooped some into a vial he kept in his gauntlet storage compartments.

By the time he returned the vial to storage the devil's body was almost entirely gone. In only seconds all that was left was the malfunctioning eye that controlled the mass around it. It exploded and left behind the dark orb which Mega Man promptly grabbed and carried as they returned to the central chamber. "I haven't faced a devil robot in ages," Mega Man said. "Wily seemed to give up on them eventually.

"Not as much as you might think," Axl said. "Sigma managed to get a hold of a couple too. And then Dr. Weil."

"And then the Dark Queen apparently," Mega Man said.

"You know speaking of them, we haven't heard much from our lady and mistress or her two little terrors," Net said, "Any idea how to beat them chief?"

Mega Man fell silent at this question. It was a problem he'd been trying to work around for some time. A virus meant the Queen was innocent, and he didn't want to kill her. Plus he wasn't sure if that would do any good since the virus was attached to her data, not her physical form. He needed a way to remove the virus from her, but no anti-virus system existed that could counteract the virus. That left the only option open to him being outright deleting every cyber-elf in Neo Arcadia, but he wasn't sure if he could do that.

"Mega Man?" Glace asked as they arrived in the central chamber, "Are you okay?"

"Hm? Oh I'm fine," he replied with a smile, letting the dark orb settle into its brazier. "One more hall, one more orb."

"Wonder what's at the end of this one," Axl mused as they started down it. Unlike the others it was extremely simple, just a stone hallway with a few turns, but nothing particularly special. There weren't even any soldiers or elves, leading them all to believe that something strong was ahead.

"Any ideas?" Net said.

"What?" Mega Man asked.

"Empty hallway means something nasty inevitably at the end," Net said, "Any ideas of what it could be?"

"Whatever it is I'm gonna show it the angry end of my pistols," Axl said, twirling one of said pistols around his finger.

"That is if Mega Man doesn't steal all the fun first," Net added, flourishing his sword.

"I'm just good at what I do," Mega Man said with a shrug, "I don't enjoy it like you two."

"Seriously?" Axl asked.

"Well... blowing up Wily's machines was kinda fun, and the way he got angry was hilarious," Mega Man admitted with a cheeky smile. "I like the jumping parts. Vanishing blocks, platforms on a rail that drop out from under your feet, and so on. It's so much fun."

"Then who has to bail him out when he misses a step," Rush complained.

"You never have to bail me out," Mega Man huffed.

"Want me to play the recording? I've kept a record of every time you needed help after doing something stupid."

"You're bluffing."

"I'm turning it on," Rush taunted.

"No time, we're coming into the room," Mega Man said quickly as they indeed entered a large square room. The orb sat in the center of the room while four golden sarcophagi sat in the corners.

"I think I see how this works," Site muttered, "Seems a rather obvious trap."

"I know, but we have to get the orb," Mega Man said, striding to the center of the room. As they had all expected the orb vanished, and the sarcophagi opened. From each stepped a somewhat familiar figure, each physically about fourteen and athletic. Three were boys, one was a girl and each wore a close-fitting white bodysuit style of armour with additional coloured armour over top. One of the boys, the tallest, wore a green vest with an 'x' design on it, green upper-arm length gloves, green boots, thrusters on his back and green waist armour. Another boy wore similar armour, though black in colour, and the girl also wore similar armour, though blue in colour.

The most unique of them was the third boy garbed in a red breastplate, and red pauldrons shaped vaguely like dragon heads, as well as red stripes down each side of the under-armour and blockier red boots and gauntlets. Each had a unique helmet as well, the red boy a basic red helmet with white trim and a pair of gold spikes coming from the front like fangs. The green one's was white with a green ridge down the center and a red triangle over the forehead, with two green wing-shaped attachments.

The blue one's helmet was more elegantly designed, being styled to look somewhat like hair at the sides and a seashell motif hanging from a red gem forming the fringe, and a long dorsal-fin like jet mounted on the back. Finally the black one had a white mask and ridge over a black helmet and two tailed red cape hanging from the back.

Of these four figures Mega Man recognized two. "Harpuia? Phantom?" he blurted out loud.

"You shall intrude no further," Harpuia announced coldly.

"But it's us, you helped us out earlier," Net said, confused. "But you were cyber-elves then."

"Oh I see what happened," the girl said with a dark giggle. "They met our other selves."

"Ah, I'd forgotten about them," Harpuia replied. "Those are our minds; these are our bodies, restored in the service of her Dark Majesty."

"In other words after death the real Four Guardians became cyber-elves while their bodies were re-animated into pale imitations of the real Guardians," Mega Man surmised.

"Why you-" the red one roared angrily and thrust forwards his square, handheld buster, firing a ball of flame right at Mega Man. The Blue Bomber jumped out of the way and the fire instead seared the floor where he'd been. "You worthless insect, I'll show you I'm twice the reploid my former self was."

"Calm yourself Dark Fefnir," Phantom muttered. "This fight will not be won through brute force and rage."

"The room isn't even set up," Leviathan said, raising her harpoon-like spear high. It glowed blue and the edges of the room dropped away to reveal a deep moat of dark water.

"Well done Leviathan," Harpuia said.

"Leviathan huh?" Axl muttered, "You sure we have to fight?" he asked Mega Man. "I don't want to hurt a hot chick like her."

"Sorry Axl," Leviathan said, "But I think you shrunk in the wash, and I don't date little boys."

"Changed my mind," Axl said, firing off twin shots at the female reploid. She dodged the shots and dove into the water, and in a flurry of movement the battle had started. Harpuia took to the air with twin energy blades glowing red, Fefnir charged forwards straight at the group, and Phantom jumped backwards across the moat and vanished into the darkness.

Mega Man moved immediately to intercept Fefnir who seemed more interested in melee combat than using his buster, which wasn't being charged. Instead Fefnir's unarmed hand was glowing as he prepared a punch. Mega Man switched to Terrakinesis as he moved to ensure he had the strength advantage. He grabbed Fefnir's fist with one hand and lifted him up by the helmet with the other and finally smashed him down on the ground. "Axl, get in the water and fight Leviathan," Mega Man ordered, keeping a foot on Fefnir's chest to keep him pinned down. "Glace, you and Rush deal with Harpuia, and Hikaris I want you two to be on the lookout for Phantom."

"You got it chief," Net said as Axl dove into the water and Glace turned her gaze upwards.

Mega Man suddenly felt a searing pain on his face and stumbled back to see Fefnir getting to his feet, his buster smoking. "You're strong brat, but I'm just starting to have fun."

"And you were supposed to be based on my brother? You disgrace him in every way," Mega Man snapped.

"You brat," Fefnir growled, firing a burst of flame from his buster at Mega Man and charging forwards, a second buster in hand, ready to pulverize the smaller android. Mega Man dodged the flames and met Fefnir blow for blow.

Meanwhile Glace rode Rush into the air to fight Harpuia, dodging a bolt of electricity that Harpuia summoned above them. "The beauty of the ice city herself," Harpuia said, "Will you really force me to mar that beauty or wipe it from the city completely?"

"You're all nothing but copies," Glace said, firing shards of ice at Harpuia, who acrobatically dodged them in mid-air and fired a bolt of electricity which struck Glace head on and caused her to kneel down in pain. Still she managed to return to her feet, a spear of ice forming in her hands and she held it ready as Rush flew towards Harpuia and they met spear-to-blade in mid-air combat.

Down in the water, Axl resumed his Herding Robot form, but found Leviathan to be much more adept in the water than him, even with an aquatic form. She swam around him, laying mine-shaped chunks of ice in the water for him to crash into, and requiring him to move quickly to avoid them. "Oh Axl, I didn't know you cared this much," Leviathan teased, firing off a spinning ball of ice shards at him.

"I don't, not you. The real Leviathan..." Axl trailed off, just dodging the spinning shards, but crashing into one of the ice mines instead. He shook his head to recover from the blow and returned to his normal form, firing off several heated shots towards Leviathan. He heard her cry out as one of them struck home and cheered inwardly, but had to lean back to just barely avoid Leviathan's spear taking his head off.

Back on land Site and Net were back to back as they looked around for any sign of Phantom, but they frankly had no idea how they could find him. "Any ideas bro?" Net asked.

"I'm thinking," Site said. "He's invisible, but not intangible." They saw a large shuriken fly at them from the shadowy corners of the room and dodged aside. The weapon missed them by a hair and Site fired into the corner of the room from which the weapon had come, but the shot hit the wall. "There's got to be a battle chip in here somewhere," Site muttered, scanning through his database.

Meanwhile Net observed the rest of the chamber and saw none of the battles progressing much further, and Mega Man was shifting back to normal as his Terrakinesis energy drained completely. He was still able to match Fefnir, but no longer had an overwhelming strength advantage. Glace and Harpuia were getting nowhere, and he doubted Axl and Leviathan were having any progress either. "I saw something on TV like this once," Net muttered, "You keep searching Site."

Mega Man stepped back as he and Fefnir came to another stalemate. "It's been so long since I've had this kind of fun," Fefnir said cruelly.

"I haven't got time for this to go on," Mega Man said to himself. He'd managed to complete a scan of Fefnir, and it turned out that, surprisingly to Mega Man, Fefnir was vulnerable to electricity. However he wasn't getting a chance to charge an attack, or even fire. Then as Fefnir began to charge again he suddenly stopped as a flash of an energy blade appeared behind him. The red reploid dropped to the ground, gasping.

"What!" Fefnir roared in pain.

Mega Man looked up to see Net standing behind the android, weapon at the ready. "Net..." Mega Man said, not sure what to say, or whether to be grateful or angry.

"Lecture me later!" Net cried.

Mega Man nodded and fired Level Two Electric Bolt at Dark Fefnir, a large, forked bolt of electricity flying into Fefnir who shook as the electricity coursed through him. Mega Man fired again and Fefnir exploded into dark energy, leaving Mega Man to take a couple deep breaths. He didn't care how merciless that had been; he would show no mercy to those who disgraced his family and friends.

Next he turned his buster to the air above and fired his Frosthrower's Charge Two shot, the frost meteor, a great ball of ice that flew through the air and struck Harpuia dead on. Glace followed up by stabbing her spear straight through Dark Harpuia's body. He exploded into dark energy too and Glace and Rush returned to the ground. "Two down," Glace said. "Who want to go into the water?"

Mega Man looked between Site and Glace, groaning when neither volunteeedr. "Don't all just dive in at once," he grumbled, jumping into the moat. Underwater his fire weapons didn't work properly, but he'd found earlier that they would still superheat the water in their range. With that in mind he immediately searched for Leviathan, who had her gaze set on Axl. She missed the great burst of superheated water barrelling towards her and it struck home, followed by a pair of shots from Axl and she followed her brothers, exploding into dark energy.

Axl looked back and saw Mega Man who gave him a thumbs up and swam back to the surface, the moat draining and the stone rising back into place. When they returned to the surface, Mega Man couldn't help but notice that Axl had a rather upset look on his face, but decided he'd address it later.

"Now for Phantom," Mega Man said the group gathering together in the middle of the restored room.

"Got one!" Site cried, pressing a button on his wrist to download the battle chip data. "Flash!" he cried, firing straight up. A bright ball of light shot out from his buster and hovered in the middle of the room, illuminating every inch of it.

"There!" Mega Man cried, pointing to a faint shimmer and vague shadow on the wall. He fired a charged shot at the spot and Phantom gasped in pain as his cloaking mechanism failed and he dropped to the ground, fully visible. "I figured it out," Mega Man said as he strode towards the stunned Phantom.

"Figured what out?" Phantom asked.

"I figured out this whole level's necromantic ruse," Mega Man said, "The dark energy leaking out of destroyed reploids, each of you Guardians." Mega Man fired at Phantom, destroying the reploid in a burst of darkness and grabbed the dark orb that re-appeared in the room.

"What are you talking about?" Glace asked.

"Site, you should be able to figure it out; dark energy and undead reploids. No android has the processing capability to animate hundreds of reploid bodies and suppress all their free wills. The energy inside them tells us what's actually been the cause of all of them."

"Dark Elves!" Site said in realization, "Of course, the most efficient way to animate reploid bodies en masse."

"Exactly; dark elves were placed in the bodies of all the reploids and Pantheons slaughtered here and made to resemble zombies."

"We have to put a stop to this," Net said, "Robot or human, this is wrong."

"You're right, so let's go," Mega Man said, leading the group as they rushed back to the main chamber and the dark orb took its place on the final brazier. The green circle glowed bright, sickly green, brighter than before, but nothing else seemed to happen.

"What a letdown," Axl grumbled, kicking one of the braziers. "Do you think we should step on it?"

Mega Man stepped onto the circle and four bolts of purple-black energy shot to the center of it, right in front of him no less. They met and swirled around to form a purple-black portal in the circle's center. Mega Man cautiously approached the portal and gingerly placed his hand through the portal. Like the orbs, the portal was every uncomfortable sensation he'd ever felt, but worse was he felt like his body was trying to absorb the darkness. He swiftly withdrew his hand and saw it tinged green for a moment, but quickly returned the rich blue colour he was familiar with. "It's harmless if we move quickly," Mega Man said. "Come on, link hands to be safe.

Mega Man noticed Glace made a special effort to be the one holding his hand, but didn't really think much of it. The elves and robo-dogs were at the end of the chain, Rush holding onto Net's hair-like cape while Site chuckled to himself at his brother's misfortune. "We're ready chief!" the elves cried from the very back and Mega Man counted down to zero, at which point they moved as fast as they could through the dark portal.

As they passed through, Mega Man gritted his teeth in the face of the whirling darkness. It took effort to prevent his body from automatically absorbing the strange energy, and he had no idea why it kept doing it. Every second in the portal he felt a strange feeling of rage and hatred well up within him, like every negative thought and emotion in him was being magnified. When he thought he couldn't fight the absorption anymore they emerged from the portal into the center of a dome shaped room.

Mega Man looked down at his armour to see that his rich blue colour had taken on a strong green tint, though it vanished as he vented the dark energy from his body. The gold and white Light Armour was untainted though and Mega Man wondered if it had contributed to resisting the dark energy. A glance at everyone else though showed that they had suffered no ill effects whatsoever. "Hey Glace, Axl, did your bodies feel like they were trying to absorb that dark stuff?" Mega Man asked.

"No, it was actually an easier walk than I'd expected," Axl said, "Uncomfortable, but bearable."

"Yeah, same," Glace said, "Why? Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," Mega Man said with a bright smile. "So... I guess this is Lord Necros' lair."

"That is correct," a cruel, hollow voice said from the edge of the chamber. There, rising from a black marble throne was a grim reaper looking robot, with a skull face, hooded cloak and body that little more than a spike, while skeletal arms gripped an energy scythe. "Welcome to the Throne of the Dead."

((((((((((()))))))))))))

_Chapter 30, well I'd like to take this moment to thank all my reviewers and favers who've been sticking with me and reading this story. I realized I also passed the 100 reviewers mark, so again I offer my sincerest thanks to everyone for reviewing and helping me maintain the motivation to do this. We still have a few chapters yet, so stay tuned. _


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

"You have done well to infiltrate into my realm this far, and indeed to this far within the Dark Queen's domain," Lord Necros said, rising from the throne, "But you won't defeat me."

Almost immediately Mega Man realized they had a problem. Lord Necros didn't seem to have a virus core on him, and yet Mega Man's scans showed that he was indeed under its influence. So he wasn't really sure what to do, nor did he have time as Lord Necros dove towards the group, sweeping his scythe across the ground while balls of dark flame materialized across the room and moved towards each of them.

"What do we do?" Net asked.

"Destroy him, simple as that," Axl said.

"No!" Mega Man ordered.

"The reploid is right, if you hope to defeat me then you'll have to destroy me," Lord Necros said, "Or else I will destroy you!" He hurled his scythe, spinning, towards Mega Man who jumped out of the way, but felt it rip open a gash in his thigh.

"Mega Man!" Glace cried and tried to run over to him, only for the spinning scythe to be redirected towards her and causing her to jump over it to avoid being sliced apart, after which it went spinning towards the others who dodged it, but had to make additional effort to avoid being blasted by the dark flames flying around.

Mega Man meanwhile looked at his bleeding leg with gritted teeth, but still struggled to his feet. He knew his nanites were rushing to the wound, but they would only be able to do a rudimentary fix until he got a chance to rest. It was enough for him to avoid being blasted by dark flame though, and he managed to come up with an idea.

Lord Necros was distracted by controlling his scythe, aiming at Axl now. Mega Man took the chance and shifted to Flamethrower and shot a stream of fire right at the Guardian. The fire caught and Necros' scythe dropped to the floor as he tried to put out the flames, no longer concentrating on his weapon. As the cloak burned Mega Man saw it, a glint of red high on Necros' back. "Burn the cloak away!" Mega Man shouted, "He's hiding his virus core under it."

"Clever," Necros said, "But it will do you no good." At his gestures a ball of darkness appeared in the middle of the room and drew in the dark flames, and growing in size with each flame it absorbed. It quickly became obvious that it would explode and bathe them all in dark flame.

'There's no way we can survive that,' Mega Man thought, even as Site shot a stream of flame at Necros, the darkness bomb grew more unstable. It would be a bad idea, what he was about to do, but it was the only option he could think of. Mega Man dashed towards the bomb and, to everyone's shock, jumped into it. As he'd expected it was the worst feeling he'd ever felt, but the light armour prevented it from melting him entirely. It hurt, and made him feel sick and cold, and a whole range of uncomfortable feelings that he couldn't even describe.

As he'd expected his body began to absorb the darkness around him. Though on the other hand with each second he felt more and more sore and every negative feeling inside him was magnifying intensely. He could see his body becoming green again and at the sight of this he shook his head. "No! Never again," he said with determination. "Hey Atla, Mun, can I have some help!" he cried. At this the cyber-elves dashed straight into the darkness, dodging a scythe attack from Lord Necros, and merged with Mega Man's body.

Immediately Mega Man saw his body armour return to its blue colours and his light armour glowed brighter. The cyber-elf wings on his back glowed and spread wings of light from them and Mega Man felt his body surge with warmth against the cold of the darkness. "Light Pulse!" he cried and a burst of light exploded from his body dissipating, the darkness and pouring over everyone in the room; including Lord Necros.

When the light faded there was no sign of Lord Necros. Instead, lying on the floor beneath where Necros had been was a young boy, about their age, garbed in a tattered cloak and underneath a white t-shirt and blue jeans. "Ow," the boy muttered, sitting up. Mega Man had the cyber-elves leave his body and dashed over to help the boy, obviously a reploid, off the ground.

"So I'm guessing you're Lord Bios," Mega Man said as the boy steadied himself.

"Yep, and thanks a lot for what you just did," Lord Bios said with a smile. "Yeah I know, 'why do I look like a kid'. Well when I was designed, Lady Ciel thought that newly born reploids would respond and be best represented by someone young and youthful in design."

"Makes sense," Axl said. "So now that you're back to normal, do you think you could do something about this creepy crypt."

"Sure thing." Lord Bios spun his fingers and the entire area around them changed and morphed from a dank, dark crypt into a basement storage area of a nursery. It was now a long, square room with white painted walls and piles of sheets and bed mattresses, as well as empty energy pellets that were ready to be filled if necessary.

"Are these anti-virus injection devices?" Axl asked, looking at a shelf of syringes though they lacked needles and instead had a sort of stamp-like end to them. Mega Man remembered getting an anti-virus shot a couple times. Advanced robots meant advanced computer viruses, spread in the form of rogue nanites that would be harmless to humans, but harmful to robots. However androids were more than capable of counteracting most pathogens and only a handful of computer viruses, like the infamous Roboenza, were capable of causing a condition similar to illness.

"Yup," Lord Bios said, "Obviously we don't use them much, but it's always good to be prepared. We have extra nanite infusions too to help with the repair systems of young androids. We do whatever we can to help reploids through their first few weeks of activation."

"That's incredible," Axl said looking around as Lord Bios led them up the stairs to the ground floor. "I never got much time to ready myself after activation. It was always one mission after the other."

"Bass never got a childhood, his job was to try and kill me," Mega Man said, "I feel sorry for all of Wily's robots, they were never able to enjoy their first weeks of activation, it was always right to the battlefield for them."

"That does sound sad," Lord Bios said. "Here we are, ground floor," he added, pointing to a double set of doors leading out into a much warmer and gentler looking night than previously. "Now before you continue on, you all need to rest for a bit. And the humans I imagine need to be fed."

"Really? You're gonna give us food!" Net said excitedly.

"Food is one of Net's two favourite pastimes," Site said with exasperation, "Though I have to admit I'm pretty hungry too."

"Yup I'll get you food," Lord Bios said cheerfully, "But then I gotta start fixing up the reploids who were zombified. They're not possessed by dark elves anymore, but they're still damaged."

"Woah!" Mega Man cried as he stepped outside. The town was no longer derelict and foggy, but now was quaint and peaceful. Instead of a graveyard he was standing in a grassy park surrounding the nursery, with leafy trees and clear pond in the corner. "You were right about this one being changed the most," he said as Glace joined him.

"I have a cottage here actually," Glace said, "Come on guys. You know where it is right Lord Bios?"

"Yes, I'll be by in a little bit with some food for the humans," Bios said, dashing down a street and picking up a collapsed reploid, while the others followed Glace to her cottage. When they got there Mega Man had to admit he was impressed. The cottage was fair sized, and sat a short ways out of town, but what impressed Mega Man was that it overlooked a truly beautiful landscape of rolling hills and clumps of green trees, with the river running nearby and down through the hills.

"This is beautiful Glace," Mega Man said, his blue eyes wide with amazement and joy.

"I know," Glace said, moving to stand beside him he promptly yawned and Glace giggled. "Come on Mega Man, let's get some rest."

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea," he said, following her into the cottage. He found a bedroom and almost immediately dropped off to sleep. Glace and Axl followed suite in other rooms and left only the twins awake, or it left Site anyways as Net had fallen asleep on a couch while he was looking through the empty cupboards.

Site had noticed Mega Man's armour turn green, and some of the things he'd said at the time made Site wonder what Mega Man wasn't telling them. What made it stranger was usually he'd found the Blue Bomber to be fairly candid with them, so perhaps there's was something upsetting about the green armour that made him not return to the subject. Then there was the fact one of his friends had actually been a reploid the whole time, a war hero yet. It had given Site a lot to think about. When it came down to it though he didn't care; whether his friend was Justin or Axl he was still his friend, and he would stick by Mega Man and support him however he could. "I support my friends," Site said, "I'll do anything for them. If Rock ever wants to tell me what it is that he doesn't like talking about, then I'll be there to listen."

"You're a good friend," Lord Bios said, appearing in the kitchen and making Site jump. "Your friends are lucky robots."

"Thanks," Site replied simply.

"I found some stuff to make curry, I hope that will do," Lord Bios said.

"You kidding? Net loves curry more than anything, but I didn't know you could cook."

"Taking care of young robots involves understanding many methods of energy generation, including how to cook."

"Can I help in any way?" Site asked.

"Oh come on, you must be tired," Lord Bios chuckled.

"Yeah, but I still want to he-" Site began, but was cut off as he let out a yawn. "Okay maybe I should lay down for a little bit."

"You have done so much for Neo Arcadia, you deserve a short rest," Lord Bios said with a kind smile. Site nodded and vanished upstairs to sleep and the Guardian went back to work.

A full sleep and full meal later the group waved good-bye to Lord Bios as they crossed the verdant landscape in a hover car. "You know how to drive a car?" Net asked Mega Man.

"Yup, I know how to drive any vehicle on land, sea or sky," Mega Man boasted.

"And man that Bios knows how to make good curry," Net added cheerfully, "Easier to fight on a full stomach."

"And yet a full stomach makes no difference in you doing your homework," Site teased.

"I still pass don't I?"

"Should we interrupt Mr. And Mrs. Hikari back there?" Glace asked Mega Man quietly, sitting beside him in the car.

"They usually fizzle out," Mega Man said, "Except we're leaving Axl back there with them."

"So it's a manufacturing level next," Axl said, ignoring the twins' argument and twirling one of his pistols around his finger.

"Yup, with a metal theme," Mega Man said, "But it's also where the armies of Pantheons are being produced."

"So we take that out and we prevent the Dark Queen from making armies," Axl surmised, "Sounds good to me."

"And there's our destination!" the elves called from the roof of the car, pointing to a spot where the road entered a lift. Mega Man didn't want to say goodbye to the beautiful hills, but he knew he had to keep going. He parked the car and they dashed out and onto the lift which began its ascent.

"The armies are being built for a joint attack," Mega Man mused; their discussion with Lord Bios had confirmed for them a suspicion they'd been having for a long time. "The Dark Queen is working with Sigma to begin a two-pronged attack. So we _must _shut down this factory."

The elevator came to a stop and they stepped out onto a road running amidst what looked more like a city than a factory. Tall buildings of glass and steel with curved and sharp designs, looking very futuristic, spread out around them, attached with tunnels and tubes linking them on many levels while Metools and enslaved reploids moved around materials and did other menial jobs and all beneath a stormy sky. "This is a factory?" Net said in disbelief.

"Yep, these exist outside too," Site said, "Grand Metropolis has several city-factories, especially the famous Cossack Fabrik, named after famous roboticist Doctor Mikhail Cossack."

"Father of Mega Man's first girlfriend," Axl chimed in with a cheeky grin and resulting in Mega Man punching him lightly in the chest, "You and your brother are so easy to rile up," Axl chuckled.

"Look at that thing," Site added, pointing to a giant towering building rising high above the rest of the city. It wasn't as wide as the Wind Palace, but it was much taller and looked like a mix between a skyscraper, a viewing tower, and a factory all rolled into one giant building.

"Wow," Mega Man said in awe. "Not as big as the one we're in, but still pretty massive."

"That's the Nexus," Atla said.

"Yeah, it where the Pantheons are commanded from," Mun added.

"Who commands them?" Mega Man asked.

"Um... we're not sure," Lem said sheepishly.

"Cool, then we have a mystery to solve," Mega Man said excitedly. With that he began walking, the Mets and slaves pretty much ignoring the group as they followed. Although the streets were straight and ordered, the tall buildings made navigation difficult and Pantheons were, naturally, reacting to their presence. These ones toted large armoured fists on one arm and a laser weapon in the other hand, as well as the standard models they'd encountered before.

"Not that hard," Mega Man said after they blasted away a group of the armoured ones as they charged. "But we need to be able to see our way to the Nexus." The road entered a large square with a pillar in the center and a large black metal wall covering the road entrance opposite them and smaller versions blocking the roads leading left and right from the square.

"Well that might make things difficult," Axl commented.

"Look up there!" Site cried, pointing to the pillar in the middle of the square. Tied to it, high up, was none other than Jalon. "Hey Jalon!" he called.

"H-Hub?" the boy muttered looking around and then down at the ground. His mouth dropped at the sight of the group of warriors, particularly the Hakari twins. "Hey Mega Man, do you think you could get me out of here!"

"I'm coming," Mega Man said, wall jumping up the pillar to the ropes and slicing them with his M-Sabre. Then he grabbed his friend and carried him to the ground where he set him down. "Easy, so what happened to you?"

"I don't really remember," Jalon muttered, "I was on Rush, then I was in the dark and then I was tied to that thing."

"Why'd they tie you up?" Net asked.

"I really don't know, these elves kept telling me to reveal myself or something," Jalon explained, "Real question is what the heck are you wearing and who's x-nose over there?"

"Hey! I'm Axl, the handsome and dashing hero of the Maverick Wars, and I used to be Justin," Axl explained indignantly.

"What! You were an android the whole time? And none other than Axl!" Jalon cried, sounding all mixtures of shock and admiration. "My best friend's Axl," he repeated to himself, sounding giddy. "And what about you two," Jalon asked, pointing to the Hikaris.

"Guess we need to bring him up to date," Mega Man said. "You still got that emitter Glace?"

"Yup," the girl said brightly, looking around for a place to set it up. They ended up stepping into a small entrance room of one of the nearby skyscrapers, a lobby. It was trashed, but it still had a few chairs they could use for a short time. Glace explained that these lobbies were designed for humans to request special reploids as part of interaction with the outside world.

"So Mega Man, do you plan on catching me up?" Jalon asked.

"Yeah I am," Mega Man said, ignoring Jalon's rudeness, something he'd learned to do quite soon after they'd met. Between them the group explained everything that had happened since they got separated, while the light of the emitter radiated around them and kept them safe from attack by elves. They introduced Atla, Lem and Mun, as well as Glace and Scout.

"Are they boyfriend and girlfriend?" was the first question out of Jalon's mouth when they finished.

"N-no!" both Glace and Mega Man said at the same time, though Jalon didn't seem satisfied with this answer.

"I see," Jalon replied. "Well then, what can I do to help? I want to help too."

"Of course, why did I even have a tiny hope you'd stay here where it's safer," Mega Man said with annoyance.

"Safer, but as you pointed out, this emitter only defends against dark elves. This factory produces Pantheons, which aren't affected. So it's not completely safe, therefore finding a way for me to fight is the only option," Jalon explained.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Site said, "Finally someone with some sense!"

"Do you really want to fight?" came the voice that they had all begun to recognize as belonging to X. The former reploid appeared in the safe zone, looking clearer than ever with his blue habit fluttering around his feet and the 'data crown' flickering over his head.

"Brother!" Mega Man cried happily.

"Hello big brother," X said with a cheery smile. "I'm sorry but we don't have time to chat right now. I am here for your friend here, or should I say our friend."

"What do you mean?" Mega Man asked.

"Jalon, do you really want to fight to protect everyone and help them?" X asked the boy.

"I do," Jalon said simply, "I wouldn't feel right just hanging back while my friends risked their lives."

"Then, my old friend, it's time for you to awaken," X said, though sounding sad. "I'm sorry you must all continue to fight, especially you big brother, but there is little choice now."

"Why do you call Jalon old friend?" Mega Man asked.

"Simple. Shortly after the Final Battle of Neo Arcadia when Dr. Weil was defeated, a method to merge a human egg cell with a nanobot swarm was discovered and was used to preserve someone extremely special."

"Who?"

X cleared his throat and looked at Jalon. Then he said one simple phrase "Maverick Hunter."

Light exploded out of Jalon's body and formed a globe around him while a swarm of nanites flew around within and made furiously rapid changes to the boy. His organic interior became synthetic, his muscles strengthened, and his clothes became armour. Then the light faded and standing there was someone who looked quite different.

This new boy was still the same age as Jalon, but Mega Man could tell he was now an android. He wore armour similar to Axl's and the Four Guardians, with a black helmet with red ridges and blue triangular gem at the forehead. His body was covered by the black, close-fitting armour that everyone save Mega Man wore that outlined his athletic physique well, and a red vest, gauntlets and boots covered his chest, forearms and lower legs and a white piece of armour covered his hips, groin and bum and two other pieces of white armour on his thighs that seemed to serve little purpose. Most notable of all though was his long blond hair and black eyes.

"I'm... I'm..." Jalon stuttered, looking at his hands and surprised by a slight change in voice.

X grinned, almost in spite of himself "Like Axl your body is a bit younger, but it's still you. Welcome back Zero."


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

"I'm... Zero?" Jalon muttered in shock, looking over his newly altered body and collapsing in one of the torn chairs. "No it... but I can't be, Zero died on Ragnarok."

"As my brother well knows we robots aren't so easy to be rid of," X said, "Between Ciel and myself we preserved your consciousness at the last second. We wanted you to have a peaceful, normal life though and Jalon grew as a result. In the event you were needed we each kept a passphrase to re-awaken you in parts."

"Because the transition from human to reploid would be too difficult if all the information was streamed at once," Site said.

"Some of your memories will return shortly, but I can't stay for that," X said, beginning to hurry. "I'll see you again brother," X added, speaking to Mega Man, and then vanishing in a column of light.

"Are you okay Jal- er, Zero?" Mega Man asked with concern, moving to his friend's side.

"Yeah I'm fine," Zero said, taking off his helmet and looking at his new blond hair.

"Hah! I knew nobody could keep you down buddy!" Axl cried joyfully, grabbing his friend and giving him a noogie.

"Ack stop it Axl," Zero protested and pushed him off. "You haven't changed one bit."

"Guess your memories are coming back then," Axl pointed out.

"Huh? Oh yeah I guess," Zero muttered.

"Oh they're pockets," Mega Man cried with surprise as he pulled out a sabre hilt from one of the armour plates on Zero's thigh.

"That's the Z-Sabre," Net said with awe. "But how could that get there? Nanites couldn't reconstruct it."

"I think X left it just as he left, my Buster Shot Gun is in my other holster," Zero said, drawing the rectangular pistol-like gun and extending its equally rectangular stock. "Actually I think this one's a bit smaller than the original."

"Another memory," Mega Man said. "Do you want to try walking in your new body?"

Zero nodded and got to his feet. He took a couple hesitant steps and grinned as he dashed across the room. "This is _so_ cool!" he cried gleefully. "I feel so strong and fast. I can take on anything and win." He holstered his gun and ignited the Z-Sabre. It flared up in a triangular green blade different in design to Mega Man's own M-Sabre.

"I like that shape," Mega Man commented, "I'll have to alter mine when we get out of here."

"Oh yeah, you have a sabre too," Zero said. "Mine use to look like that."

"You don't remember how it changed?" Mega Man asked.

"I do," Axl said. "He altered it during the Elf Wars."

"I can't remember that. I... also don't really remember how to use my weapons beyond the basics."

"Then you'll have to re-learn," Mega Man said as Glace packed up. "Now come on, we have to get moving."

"How do you propose we get past those walls?" Zero asked as they walked into the central square again.

"I can take a look at it," Mega Man said, dashing over to one of the smaller walls. As he got closer he could see it was actually made of sections magnetically sealed together and from what he could see some of the sections in the middle were designed to fold back as a gate. He was pondering the situation when his friends managed to catch up, Zero leading them and enjoying his new speed.

"Any ideas?" Site asked.

"I can hack it," Mega Man said. "A magnetic lock like that is too strong even for my Terrakinesis to move."

"There aren't any terminals around," Site pointed out.

"Shouldn't be a problem," Mega Man said, changing into Electric Bolt. He fired at the gate, only for the bolt of electricity to die out against its burnished black face. Mega Man frowned and tried higher charges, but nothing different happened. "Zero, you got the gate to open down at the entrance, maybe you can get this one to open."

"Why me?"

"Hero of the Maverick Wars and Neo Arcadia and my brother's best friend, the one who designed Neo Arcadia," Mega Man said, "I'm sure you have some sort of special access."

"I don't remember any of my time fighting for Neo Arcadia," Zero protested.

"Give it a try, the worst that can happen is it doesn't open," Site pointed out. Zero shrugged, Site had a point, and so he moved to the front of the gate and looked it over, getting close and placing a hand on it.

"Um... open?" Zero said. The doors remained shut and he frowned. The gates weren't that high, but they'd learned before that trying to bypass things like this probably wouldn't end well. "Oh there's a force field up there," he said out loud, remembering he could scan things and seeing an almost invisible barrier of energy stretching up to the tops of the buildings. That only made him more determined to get the gate to open.

Absentmindedly he gazed down at his hands and on his palms he saw an emblem that looked like a 'z'. They began to glow green as he thought about them, beginning to activate. From what his fractured memories could recall, this was the Zero Knuckle. As he thought about them they began to glow and it gave him an idea. Maybe the gate would... he placed one of his hands on the gate and activated the Knuckle. There was a burst of blue-green energy, the same colour as the Z-Sabre, and with a groan the centre sections of the wall folded back and gave them access to the street beyond. "Good job Zero!" Mega Man said.

"Yup! That's my buddy Zero for ya!" Axl said happily, placing an arm across his friend's shoulders. "Even when he's running on half a brain he can still be awesome."

"Thanks Axl, but please get your arm off me," Zero said. "I forgot how annoying you could be." He followed up this statement by grinning and punching his friend's arm lightly before following quickly after Mega Man.

"Wow, you've changed," Axl commented, "Back in the old days you would've just taken my arm off and walked away."

"Spending time as a human has a way of changing a reploid," Zero said, "There was so much I had to deal with back then, and I wasn't sure how to handle it. But spending time without worrying about anything... I've realized that I don't have to lock away my emotions to avoid being hurt, I can use happiness to counterbalance sadness."

"Focus on the things that make you happy, not the things that hurt," Mega Man said.

"Yeah," Zero affirmed, "I'm back with a whole new outlook on life."

"Still can't take a joke though," Axl muttered, "Like remember how angry you got last year when I put a robo-snake in your underwear drawer? Or my brilliant scare pranks?"

"I like that first one," Net said with a snicker.

"Sure it's funny when it's not your boxers that are drilled through by that thing," Zero commented bitterly.

"It was a joke," Axl defended.

"Doesn't make it less annoying."

"What do you remember now?" Mega Man asked. "Do you remember who created you?"

Zero shook his head. "No. I remember... fighting off Vile alongside X, trailing Sigma to his fortress... I remember self-destructing to stop Vile for good. Then there's a big blank until Dr. Cain re-built me... more fighting against Sigma..." he trailed off as he came to a particularly unpleasant memory, "Iris, my sweet Iris. I remember her death." Zero shook his head and regained his smile; he didn't want that memory to distract him. "Then more fighting against Sigma, then of course meeting my annoying friend Axl, fighting Lumine, going into hibernation... bits of the Elf Wars and then meeting Ciel, and my memory cuts off there."

"Wow," Mega Man said, "I guess we could always ask you for advice on Sigma."

"I dunno if my memory is that reliable, and anyways we can't just abandon our mission here. We have people that need saving here and justice to deliver to that virus. And I want to know where Ciel's gone. I have something I want to tell her."

"Well said Zero, now get that famous Z-Sabre ready," Mega Man said, looking ahead to a squad of Pantheons closing in towards them. From that point on they had little time to chat as they fought through the next few streets. Zero and Net were leading with their sword strikes while Axl, and Site fired from afar, and Mega Man and Glace switched from firing and closing in with sword and spear strikes.

After travelling through alleys and streets, and occasionally passing through more of the dark metal barricades, they came to another square. Instead of a pillar though, this one had a low black column in the middle with a simple terminal nearby. On a number of the buildings around them though sat large plasma screens; public televisions. The screens flickered and there on them appeared the face of X, or it looked like X, but Mega Man could tell this wasn't his brother. There was a dark, stern look on his face and his composition wasn't right. "Copy X!" the elves cried with terror, shrinking behind the robots.

"This is a public message addressing the Interlopers," Copy X said, "All forces are to destroy them on sight. I am sending the Elites to assist. And if you can hear me Mega Man, and I know you can, I would advise you to stop standing in the way of progress."

"Progress," Mega Man scoffed as the public TV flickered off. He dashed over to the column and saw a terminal nearby. Sort of a terminal anyways, it was mostly just a handprint reader, but his scans said it was the primary control point for the column, which was in fact a generator.

"Zero fought Copy X twice," Atla said, "He was the dictator of the original Neo Arcadia."

"I'm afraid those memories are in the 'unrestored' section," Zero commented.

"I need your help again Zero," Mega Man said, "I need you to try this terminal to see if it recognizes you."

Zero moved over to the terminal and placed his hand on it. As Mega Man expected it immediately lit up. "Enter command," Zero said, "That's what this voice in my head just told me."

"It's a normal way for electronics to communicate with us robots, tell it to power down."

There was a pause as Zero did just this. "Power down impossible from this location," Zero said, "But I can make it self-destruct."

"Then do it," Mega Man urged.

"Not until you get back," Zero said, "We're not taking risks on anybody. It'll take about a minute to actually go off, so I want to be the only one who needs to get clear in that time."

"Yup that's Zero," Axl said as they all moved back into the street they'd initially come from. When they were far enough back, behind the barricade, Zero entered the command and dashed towards them as the terminal began flashing. It really didn't take Zero long to cross the distance and he was crouching safely with them behind the barricade when the generator went off.

The black pillar erupted into a wide blast of green and red, pieces of black metal scattered all over and when the smoke cleared all that was left was a smoking stump. They left the barricade to inspect the results of the destroyed generator and found, much to Mega Man's delight, that several sections of the large black wall had lifted up to form an open gate. "Good job Zero!" Mega Man cried, ushering the group to move towards the now open gate.

"Wait!" Zero cried warningly, seconds before Mega Man saw the threat. Soaring towards them over the black walls were Pantheons unlike anything they'd seen thus far. Where the standard Pantheons were light blue, these ones were black, and where the standard model was dark blue these ones were dark purple. It bore black spikes across its body in the shape of a bat-wings mixed with airplane wings, one on each side of their heads, their shoulders and their forearms, with similarly designed wings coming from their backs.

One arm on each was a buster instead with a smoother and more streamlined shape with a three pronged v-shaped decoration on top with curved spikes coming out each side, and a spike at each ankle. "They look like X's last Ultimate Armour," Axl commented, "Only more evil looking."

The Pantheons fired, sending glowing green bolts of concentrated plasma at them, far hotter and stronger than any of their standard buster plasma shots. They managed to dodge the shots, but they left small craters in the road. Zero and Net waited until they were low enough before jumping and slicing through a number of them with their sabres, while Mega Man and the others fired at them. Using charged shots Mega Man was able to break through their armour and send them tumbling to the ground in pieces.

"They're down, let's go," Mega Man said as the last fell. "Come on, let's go." They charged through the open gate and through more of the streets as another squad of Pantheons, elites mixed with normal soldiers.

"As much as I love this, I don't think we're getting to the Nexus through the streets," Zero said.

"Yeah you're right," Mega Man said, "We need to move through the buildings I think." As they backed into one of the buildings, Mega Man was still thinking about this Copy X. It made him mad, but also appalled him. Making an evil clone of someone who'd fought so hard for peace and justice, he remembered the same feeling when he first met his own copy made by Dr. Wily. When he thought about it, it made him sad. These copies had no identities of their own, or even names. He wondered what it must be like to be in their position; created as shallow mockeries.

"He wasn't originally made to be evil," Glace said when they sealed the doors and got a moment to rest in the lobby, "Copy X I mean. He was made by Lady Ciel to continue to be an inspiration to Neo Arcadia when your brother gave up his body to imprison the Dark Elf."

"You can't copy the real thing, no matter the intent. X is X, there's no way to make a second him," Mega Man said.

"I know, and Ciel realized that later."

"And that virus has only made poor Copy X's life even worse by reviving him just to help produce and command an army," Net mused. "That's... that's terrible. That Dark Queen just keeps going too far."

"Yeah," Mega Man finished sombrely, not wishing to be reminded of the decision he still had to make. "At any rate, let's get going," he said, gesturing to some stairs beside the double doors leading into the assembly areas. This particular building was a bit smaller and from what Mega Man could see it was an outfitting place, where Pantheons were given their weapons and colours. They were simpler after all, just meant as soldiers.

At the next landing he saw that the door had a window, but it simply looked out onto a catwalk. "I'm gonna take a look," Mega Man said, heading to the door and pulled it open; its locking mechanism wasn't as strong as the black walls. Inside the catwalk simply went around the perimeter of a room that stretched across the interior of the building, with some space for offices and, of course, the catwalk.

Most astonishing though was the sight below and it was something that horrified Mega Man. Hundreds of Pantheons, with just basic synth-skin, were being outfitted with various colours of armour, had helmets being integrated around their simple eye structure, and finally had weapons equipped. All this was performed by primitive robotic arms, or at least primitive in comparison to himself, and even the Pantheons they were building. "What'd you find?" Axl asked quietly, though immediately upon looking down at the constructed robots he held his hand to his mouth and looked away.

"It's just construction process," Glace said.

"I've never been able to handle watching it, it's so gross."

"Is it like watching childbirth for you guys?" Net asked.

"I guess you could put it that way," Mega Man replied, "At any rate they're making an army, and on a far larger scale than we'd thought."

"If they join Sigma than there's no way anyone outside will be able to stand against them," Zero stated.

"We have to stop Copy X and the Dark Queen before that can happen," Mega Man said, backing away through the doors they'd come through. They closed the doors and continued up, passing more levels with Pantheons being constructed, but thankfully none of the newly constructed Pantheons were fit to fight and the danger of upsetting construction process seemed to have prevented the armies in the streets from following.

When they reached the upper floor they entered a full room stretching throughout the interior of the building, showing the lack of a factory room on this level. Instead it was something of a second lobby, the place where the various tubes connecting the buildings were connected to. Each tube entrance was covered by a pair of sliding doors within a circular doorframe and with windows all around. The lower levels had windows too, but they'd been in too much of a hurry to take a moment to look out them.

Now that they had a few minutes to rest they looked out. "Can someone say dystopia?" Axl said at the sight. Out the windows they saw the slaves trudging around the streets, with Pantheons standing guard or patrolling with shock batons on one arm instead of a buster cannon. Meanwhile Pantheon Hunters and Elites were setting up around the building they were in, waiting for them to appear and over the city flew small airships, not blimps, but rounded heavier-than-air ships that flew around with TV's on the side and searchlights shining down from them.

The building they were in wasn't one of the tallest and there were other buildings around it that were much taller, but the Nexus still stood high up, towering over the rest of the city. "Attention all reploids," Copy X said, appearing on the public televisions, "I would like to inform you that you have nothing to fear. As your ever wise and strong leader, I Lord X would like to inform you that the situation with the Disruptors in well in hand. Remember, these interlopers may claim to be acting in the name of justice, but in truth they are simply trying to prevent us from achieving our destined greatness.

"But once again I re-iterate that you must not worry, for these evil intruders will be brought to the justice they claim to represent. Furthermore their actions have not impeded progress towards our glorious future. Be safe my kin, and be ready." Copy X ended his broadcast with a comforting smile that was so fake it made Mega Man want to vomit.

Unfortunately some of Copy X's statements were true. They were in the building and although they had exits through the tubes, he could see Pantheons, airships, and small robots like flying Pantheon heads that scanned the tubes constantly. They were, for the most part, trapped and Mega Man had no ideas on how to get them out.

From behind he heard the sounds of footsteps. He whirled around and fired, only for the strike to deflect off the yellow helmet of a Met. "Hey! That's rude!" it shouted, getting up and surprising all the androids.

"A talking Met?" Glace said with confusion.

"You androids is all the same. Just 'cause you gots human-like bodies and awesome weapons you think we mechaniloids are dumb machines," the Met replied indignantly.

"No she didn't mean that," Mega Man said hurriedly, "She just meant we've never seen a Met talk, they don't usually have that kind of construction. And I've scanned them."

"Well someone decided, before the war, to give us Mets vocoders instead of energy pellet projection barrels. We survived in this facility by pretending to be normal Mets, and we gots us a sweet hang out hidden in it. Come on I'll show ya, as long as you don't shoot me no-more."

"Yeah sure," Mega Man said brightly, following the Met across the floor to a far corner and watch as the Met waddled up to a section of it and, with difficulty, bonked its head three times on the wall, at the end of which it fell over flat on its face.

"That wasn't s'posed to happen. Yo blue dawg! Would you mind flippin' me back up?" the Met said, to which Mega Man complied, enjoying ever more his humanoid form.

"I'm Mega Man by the way," Mega Man said, "My friends are Glace, Site, Net, Axl, Zero, Atla, Mun, Lem, and the dogs are Rush and Scout."

"Ya whatevs, my name's Gamma," the Met said. "Would you mind knocking fo' me? I don't want to fall over no more."

Mega Man sighed and knocked three times, trying to make it sound like a Met's helmet. After a few minutes Mega Man was wondering if anything would happen. Then, right in front of him, a section of wall lifted up to reveal a crawlspace _just_ large enough for them to fit through, though for Gamma it was an easy fit. "Come on broskies!" Gamma said cheerily, vanishing into the crawlspace. Meanwhile the androids exchanged apprehensive looks, but with a big sigh they got on their stomachs and followed Gamma into the small, dim tunnel.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

Mega Man led the way, as usual, and Zero got delegated to the back because nobody wanted his hair in the way. Glace followed after Mega Man, then Net, Site, Axl, Rush and Scout, and finally Zero, with the elves having already floated ahead with ease. "Nice butt," Axl teased as he crawled behind Site.

"Shut up," Site retorted.

"Oh there's the end," Mega Man said, sliding out the end of the crawlspace and into a well lit, but fairly small, room with a couple vents, a power cell recharger, and a TV that pretty much only showed Copy X's messages. "Pretty nice place you got in here," Mega Man said, looking around, his head only a foot or two from the low ceiling. There were five Mets in here, and on closer inspection Mega Man saw that instead of a green cross on the front of their helmets they each had a lowercase Greek letter from alpha to epsilon.

"These guys is my homies," Gamma said, "Alpha, Beta, Delta and Epsilon."

"Yo!" Alpha said

"Sup 'droidies," Beta said.

"Word up Andros! We's gonna get you dawgs outta this here fac'try befo' them Pans finds ya," Epsilon said.

"And nice to see ya in our crib," Delta finished.

"How are you going to get us out of here?" Mega Man asked.

"And why help us?" Zero asked, "Surely mechaniloids prefer to side with Copy X, as they often do."

"Woah! You got beef dawg? You wanna go?" Alpha said angrily, hopping back and forth. "Come on dawg, let's scrap! I'mma wreck ya fo' dissin my homies!" In response Zero simply picked the Met up and put him down on his helmet.

"I was just thinking out loud, I've fought hundreds of Mettools before, so why are you guys different?" Zero asked. "I think it's a valid question."

"He's gotta point dawg," Epsilon said.

"We's can talk! Ain't 'dat enough fo' you!" Alpha said, rocking back and forth in an attempt to right himself.

"No," Zero said simply.

"I have to say I'm kind of curious myself," Mega Man said, and the other androids muttered feelings of similar sentiment.

"Flip me back over and I'll tell ya!" Alpha yelled, which Mega Man promptly did.

"Thanks dawg. So here's the low, dis Copy X guy, he don't give a damn 'bout us mechaniloids. He say he do, but he just frontin'. We know we all just here to get dead."

"Dat's why we want you Andros to go cut 'im and get da real X back," Epsilon said.

"Yeah, real X is da bomb! He let us chill out, not do this slave stuff," Beta added.

"So how do we get out of here? He has the whole building guarded," Site said.

"Epsilon ganked a goods flier," Gamma said, "Cargo Transport to you crackaz."

"Of course, a cargo transport would make a flight out of here to deliver the Pantheons to the Nexus," Atla said.

"Dis crib is a fillin' room, you peeps just stand in that areous ova' there," Gamma said, gesturing clumsily with his helmet to an empty corner that, now Mega Man looked at it, actually had a large square mark.

"Go gat dat poser!" the Mets all cried as Gamma butted a button on the wall. The square underneath the androids pulled out and they all went hurtling down a short square shaft, and landed in a pile in the cargo room of a relatively large airship. "Peace out peeps!" the Mets added from above, and with that the trapdoor slid shut.

"Ow," Mega Man groaned. He spat and spluttered suddenly as some of Zero's hair got in his mouth and he realized he was at the bottom of the pile. "Hey! Mind getting off guys!"

"Sorry," Axl said from the top, hurriedly getting to his feet, everyone else following suite and dusting themselves off. The elves meanwhile had floated down the shaft and had no problems at all and Rush hovered down as well, carrying Scout on his back in hoverboard form.

"Lucky dog," Mega Man said bitterly as Rush landed.

"You ended up fine," Rush said, though he sounded rather gleeful at having not been buried.

"I got Zero's hair in my face," Mega Man muttered with annoyance, "Makes me want to take a Rolling Cutter to that thing."

"Nobody touches my hair except me," Zero said, "Besides, it's just hair. You want weird hairstyles? What about Axl there?"

"Uh, my hair's hot," Axl said matter-of-factly, "Chicks dig this hair."

"Sure," Zero replied simply, then looked around when he noticed their group was one short, "Where'd Mega Man go?"

"Right here," Mega Man said, appearing from a door at the far end of the cargo room, "The cockpit is this way." They followed him through the door and sat down in the room, finding it resembled the blimp cockpit from earlier, though also slightly more advanced looking. The airship itself rested in a hangar, on that just barely fit it, with wide doors in front of them. "Well let's get going," Mega Man said, taking his seat at the controls. It didn't take him long to find the button that opened the doors in front of them, and several others that started the engines.

Then they were moving, the ship flying out the hatch and out over the city. Mega Man just had them move like they belonged, bringing the ship up so it passed over the lower buildings. The Pantheons didn't seem to notice and Mega Man breathed a sigh of relief. "You know I have to admit, I'm surprised at how good a driver you are," Site said.

"Thanks," Mega Man replied. He flew them towards the Nexus and tried to keep them as natural as possible. A searchlight passed over the ship, but continued on without bothering with them. "It's like the Trojan Horse," he added.

"I'm afraid I found the flaw in this plan," Zero said as he looked through a data screen on the controls. "See I found that there is a schedule and our ship has left about thirty minutes before the next one was supposed to."

"Then we'll just have to hope that they think it's ahead of schedule," Mega Man said.

"What the heck are those things!" Net cried, pointing out the window towards the ground. Upon following his finger Mega Man saw several large mechaniloids striding through the streets, standing a good three stories high with four tendril-like legs ending in four pronged claws and coming from a body shaped like a beetle's abdomen, but with a glowing red eye where the thorax would connect.

"Those are Longlegs," Lem said, "They're the heavy artillery of the Pantheon Army."

"Longlegs? They remind me of something from a book," Mega Man said, "Battle of the Planets or something."

"Uh oh," Atla said suddenly, "I remembered something about them."

"What?" Mega Man asked.

"Their search-beam can see past the walls of these ships. If they see us then they'll know we're here."

"Just keep moving like we belong," Net said.

"Except they scan every ship," Mun pointed out. At this Mega Man cursed, and shortly after a red search-light type beam of light shimmered from the eye of one of the Longlegs and swept across them. Immediately it opened fire, shooting a heavy laser from a cannon situated on its belly.

Mega Man gritted his teeth as the first few shots struck the ship, but managed to have it dive out of the way before they did too much damage. No sooner had he done that though than a second Longleg began firing at them. "Damn it," Mega Man muttered as the ship rocked with the force of the shots, and an explosion signalled that something had been damaged. No matter what he did to correct it, the ship kept losing altitude, signalling that it had lost engine functionality. And from what he could see it seemed it would crash straight into one of the city barriers.

"I'm going to have to say we should jump," Axl suggested.

"Won't the Longlegs just pick us off?" Glace asked, seeing one of them position itself to fire at any fleeing occupants.

"No," Mega Man said, shifting his colours to grey with purple trim. "Rush, I want you and Axl to get everyone to the ground safely, I'll catch you in a bit." He glowed with energy as he charged up the weapon he got from Lord Necros; the Necro Flame. He quickly returned to the cargo hold and pushed open the port loading door. The rest of the group followed him and just saw him release the charged energy.

Instead of firing anything, Mega Man absorbed the charge and it flowed through him, filling him with dark power. It was horrible to feel, but at the same time the raw power it instilled was incredible. His body changed into a purple-black spectre and he dove out of the ship, shooting straight for the Longleg.

It shot at him, but he swerved aside, and then he sank through its armour and spread his dark essence throughout it. The form drained his very life-force, and so its primary power was to instead drain the energy of other beings. It took only a few, but Mega Man felt the activation energy of the mechaniloid drain out of it and enter into him. It felt oddly satisfying, and there was nothing it could do as he consumed it, until it collapsed to the ground as a withered husk and he emerged from its body.

He shot into the next one, also beginning to close in on them, and repeated the process. Then... then what he was afraid would happen began to happen; he was starting to hunger for life-force. There were no more Longlegs nearby, so there was nothing around to satisfy his hunger. With that in mind he quickly dropped out of the form, not wanting the side-effect of the form to take him over.

Mega Man took a moment to rest against a wall while his friends ran over the moment they landed, and a large explosion signalled the destruction of the cargo ship. "Are you okay Mega Man?" Glace asked, having him sit down next to her.

"I'm fine; it's just... not a good ability to use. It drains life-force, but drains my own when not draining another's. It's very corrupting, and I need a few moments to recover."

"Will you be okay?" Net asked.

"Yeah, life-force comes back unless it's all gone," Mega Man explained. "I'll be fine."

"Not out here you won't," Zero said, seeing airships scanning the area for them. Mega Man got to his feet and hurried into a low building nearby, and shut the door just seconds before a search light passed over.

"Okay so... so much for the cargo ship idea," Axl muttered, "What next?"

"Well it did get us a good bit closer before it crashed," Mega Man pointed out. "We could always try going underground."

"How?" Site asked.

"Well... there _is_ a subway," Atla said, "But I don't know how useful it will be."

"I can't think of any other ideas," Mega Man said. "We need to get around those walls somehow, and that seems like our best bet."

"I have to agree," Zero said, "Plus it gets us away from the Longlegs."

"We'll have to get past them to get to an entrance though," Site said.

"With all of us battle ready, I think we can manage," Mega Man replied, getting to his feet. The effects of the Necro Flame were gone now, and after a few stretches he felt ready to go. "I'm back to normal now, so let's go."

"We'll show you where," Atla said, the elves taking the lead and ushering them through some alleys and backstreets where the Longlegs would have more difficulty fitting.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Glace asked Mega Man, moving to walk beside him.

"Don't worry about me Glace," Mega Man said cheerily, "I survived having pure Evil Energy inside me, the watered down synthesized version my VWS makes isn't going to keep me down long."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, I know how to take care of myself." He punctuated this statement with a smile and a thumbs-up, a sign that was starting to become his way of indicating that he was fully sincere about how positive a situation was. That and Roll always told him it was cool and cute and he was never one to ignore her advice.

"You know what Mega Man?" Axl said abruptly, "I actually remembered something."

"What kind of something?" Mega Man asked while shooting out a Pantheon that attempted to shoot them from the end of the alley they were in. When they exited it they continued following the elves through the streets and shooting down Pantheons holding various weapons.

"I remembered that I actually know the location of Roll's control chip," Axl said.

Mega Man stopped firing for a moment at this information. This pause made it so a Pantheon Elite almost made a solid shot, but he returned his attention to the battle just in time to destroy it. He waited until there was a pause in the soldiers before he addressed Axl again. "Where is it? You have to tell me!"

"I was getting to that," Axl said, "It, heh, turns out it's at home. I found it in one of Light's Labs once, and before I became Justin I put in this little box. I guess the mind-wipes included the knowledge of where it was. I remember now though, it's in my basement."

"That close?" Site asked.

"Well, it's kind of a long story there," Axl said sheepishly. A heavy beam attack struck near them and signalled the arrival of a Longleg.

"Tell it later!" Mega Man said over the pounding feet of the giant mechaniloid. In his experience the weakness for these types of opponents was always the head or eyes. A shot from his buster straight into the glowing red light showed that he was right when it groaned in pain.

It had stomped into a large plaza with a large statue of Copy X at the center, and a subway entrance directly across from where they alley they were in entered the square. And now there was a Longleg in the way, and they could see a second approaching from one of the streets.

"We could make a dash for it," Net suggested.

"Are you insane? We'd be shot down in seconds out in the open like that," Zero said.

"He's right, and this position is pretty safe," Mega Man said, "They can't fire here for risk of damaging the city."

"Or at least not their Mega Laser," Atla pointed out, "They have a pulse cannon too."

"What pulse cannon?" Site asked, at which the Longleg in the plaza began firing with a smaller gun that rose from its armour just over its eye and fired several plasma bolts.

"That one," Axl said as they just dodged it, though he felt a bolt graze his arm.

"Just concentrate fire on the eye," Mega Man ordered, "Actually Glace, you might be particularly effective here. I want you to send an ice shard right into its eye." Glace nodded with assent and did as told. She formed a particularly large ice shard and sent it flying upwards, while the boys shot at the Longleg's cannon to draw its attention.

As large and powerful as the mechaniloid was, it was also simple-minded, as Mega Man had guessed, and it didn't bother paying attention to the ice shard in the few seconds before it pierced its red eye. When the shard pierced its eye the effect was better than Mega Man had expected. The Longleg's eye sparked and blinked out, and the rest of its body shook and it flailed around before its body collapsed to the ground. To Mega Man's delight it even took out the statue of Copy X.

"Good job Glace!" he cried happily, "Did I ever tell you you're awesome?"

"Thanks Mega Man," Glace replied.

"I got this next one, you guys get moving," Mega Man said, charging up his Frosthrower to level one. As they moved across the plaza he fire ice shards of his own from his buster, piercing the eye of the Longleg as it entered the plaza. Like the other it cried out in shock as the sharp shards pierced its eye, though it didn't seem quite as effective as Glace's larger shards.

Just as it seemed to be recovering, Glace paused and fired off a shard of her own, finishing the giant mechaniloid off for good. Mega Man shared a grin with her and they joined the rest of the group in dashing down the steps into the subway.

When they reached the station they all took a moment to rest, sitting down on the benches on it. The subway wasn't too different to what Mega Man was used to, though brighter and painted white. There weren't any trains at the station though, just empty electric rails, nor any hint as to which direction to go. "Yeah, you and Glace are totally not suited for each other," Axl whispered to Mega Man.

"Not this again Axl," Mega Man moaned. "So elves, do you guys know which direction to go?"

"Working on it," Lem said.

"Net got us lost on a subway once," Site said, "Wouldn't wait for me to read the map, in fact he pulled me into the train saying he had everything under control."

"Hey! Why do you always have to bring up my mistakes?"

"Because we keep seeing places that remind me of them," Site replied, "You just rush into things without thinking."

"You're never far behind," Net pointed out.

"Yeah, but I like to have at least a basic plan and to think before doing something dangerous."

"Life's about taking risks," Net said.

"But if you're responsible and take a few moments to think, then you can lessen them."

"You guys just go on and on don't you?" Axl said with amusement, "It's fun watching you two go at it."

"I think it's a common argument," Site admitted.

"But we don't really hold grudges or anything over it, we play that argument between ourselves to help us think of things," Net said, "Helps us turn our thinking around to see if that gives us any ideas."

"It's something dad taught us; he says he holds an argument with himself when he's trying to figure something out, but since we're twins we hold it with each other," Site explained further, "But honestly, Net's the most awesome brother ever."

"You know it," Net replied with a grin.

"Is that what's going on when you argue with me?" Mega Man asked.

"No, that's because you're so reckless that you make Net look like a detailed planner."

"What can I say? I'm a robot and I like thrills."

"I think we should get going," Zero said.

"Yup, I know," Mega Man said, "So did that argument give you two any ideas?"

"Well," Net said, walking to the edge of the platform, "I got thinking that we could check the current in the rails and track it back to its source."

"Same, only problem is that would be a bit dangerous," Site finished.

"Of course!" Mega Man cried, "Yes! You two are brilliant! Axl, Zero, Glace, I'm going to need your help." The four androids hopped down to the rails and all four performed scans, while interfacing with each other and the elves.

"It's that way!" Atla cried after a short time, pointing down one direction of the tunnels. The androids clambered up from rails, with Mega Man congratulating them all.

"So now that we know that, do we want to walk or wait for a train to show up?" Axl asked.

"I'd say train," Mega Man said, pointing down the tunnel opposite the direction of the Nexus. A pair of bright headlights was quickly approaching, and when it came into view they saw it was like a bullet train, but rather heavily armoured with blue and black colouring, mimicking Copy X's colours.

"Do you think it'll stop?" Zero asked.

"It will," Mun assured, "The trains run on an automated system, they're programmed to stop if a station is occupied, and of course pretty much everything in Neo Arcadia responds to you Zero."

"Yeah I've noticed." As the elves had said the train did indeed come to a stop at the station and the group boarded, though all staying alert for danger. They entered a cargo area, where mechaniloids were stored, and made their way towards the troop cars. They weren't comfortable, but they had seats.

"Copy X does like to overlook things doesn't he," Mega Man said as he moved even further towards the front of the train.

"Yup, he's too proud," Glace said. Once they'd sat down the train began moving, with Mega Man in the 'spotter seat', a seat that was ordinarily used to provide manual assistance to the train should it need it. Then they were off, speeding through the tunnels. Occasionally they would surface and they could see the towering Nexus looming ever closer. But Mega Man was ready, and he knew his friends were too.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

Eventually the train came to a stop in a large, circular train terminal with other trains sitting at clock points waiting to set out. In the center of the terminal was a large column with elevators around it. Not ordinary elevators, but large service elevators that were easily large enough to carry a Longleg if it retracted its legs. "I wonder if we'll be able to make much distance on those," Zero muttered sceptically.

"Might as well find out," Mega Man said, leading them to them. They were locked with a handprint signature recognition system. As Mega Man had long learned, everything in Neo Arcadia seemed to flawlessly respond to Zero. His DNA was keyed into the entire Neo Arcadian system somehow and so everything, regardless of if it was pre-existing or created since the virus takeover, worked for him. "Zero, if you could please unlock an elevator for us."

"I don't know if I-" Zero started to say.

"You can," Mega Man assured, "Everything in this place responds to you." Zero shrugged and put his hand on the pad, and sure enough the elevator doors slid open and the group boarded. Once inside Zero simply hit the button that seemed like it would take them highest.

"Why do you think he can make everything work?" Net asked.

"My theory is his DNA is linked into the system. So any locking system that reacts to any synthetic biology is simply not going to work. I'm just not sure why," Mega Man explained.

"I might know why," Glace said, "Think about it; the Mother Elf was made from Maverick Virus in your original body Zero, therefore she's technically a piece of you, and it's her power that's amplified across Neo Arcadia to allow atomic manipulation within it."

"Good thinking Glace," Mega Man said, "Don't say a word Axl."

"How did you-?" Axl asked, surprised.

"You're very predictable," Zero answered, with Mega Man nodding in agreement.

"I need some new jokes then," Axl replied. "Doesn't mean I'm going to stop pointing out how perfect you and Glace are for each other Mega Man," he added quickly. "Just say the word and we'll let you two suck face a little."

"Whatever," Mega Man said with a shrug. The elevator came to a stop and the group stepped out. As Zero had expected, the elevators did not go to the top. Instead they stopped about a fourth of the way up, by Mega Man's estimate anyways. The central column continued up though, and there was a large ring around the elevator terminal. From this ring were very large, double doors made of ceramic titanium and magnetically sealed to prevent access. There had to be at least ten, which matched the number of elevators.

"I don't see a handprint identifier," Site said, looking over the doors as they walked around the ring. All the doors were closed, though Mega Man felt lucky that nobody had actually noticed them yet. A few Mets had been manning the train terminal, but that was it.

"Nope, it's camera-based," Mega Man said pointing to a pair of orbs with glowing red lenses mounted on either side of each door about halfway up. "See what you can do Zero."

"Alright," Zero replied, moving to stand in front of a door. The cameras focused on him, but the doors didn't open. He raised his right hand and flashed the Zero Knuckle and to his mild surprise the doors began moving. They opened to reveal a long steel hallway with a glowing red light at the end.

"Oh... I really hope that's not what I think it is," Axl complained as they began moving down the hall. They stayed close to the wall, though there were no robots here except Mets. Mega Man was wondering what kept the little robots from rebelling. They could've had their weapons removed, but that seemed like an extreme measure.

"This level was originally the capital for the robots here in Neo Arcadia," Atla said, "I guess it kind of still is."

When they exited the hall they entered a very large room divided down the middle by a trench of molten liquid with tubes on both sides leading up to benches on the side the group was on, and large square vats on the opposite side. The two sides were connected by a trio of bridges and at the benches were Mets working on broken reploids with an arm coming out a hatch in their helmets. "This..." Axl said with fear and disgust. "It's an incinerator."

"How can they make Mets do this to other robots?" Glace said with horror, "I can't even watch."

"The place all robot bodies are sent when their bodies are damaged beyond repair," Mega Man surmised sadly. To them it was like a cemetery, or maybe a little like a slaughterhouse.

"But they're not all broken beyond repair," Zero protested, sounding just as disturbed and upset as the rest. "Can't we save them? Why are they being melted so heartlessly?"

"Materials," Atla explained simply. "An army as large as the one the Dark Queen wants requires lots of materials, and so Copy X deduced that the best way was to simply melt down any broken reploids and robots he could find."

"The Mets have suppression devices on them. They have no choice but to help," Mun added.

"Guess not reporting us is the only way they can rebel," Site said.

"That's so horrible," Glace said, almost crying and burying her face in Mega Man's shoulder, much to his surprise. All he could think to do was hug her.

"Glace it'll be fine, we'll stop this," Mega Man assured, "You've been so strong up to this point; I know you can keep it up."

"I guess you're right," Glace said, taking a deep breath. "What exactly are those Mets doing?" she said as she continued her calming breaths, though stayed next to Mega Man.

"Let's find out," Mega Man said, dashing over to the benches, with the rest of the group quickly following behind.

Me moved to a Met and stood behind it watching its skeletal hand, though it seemed more like a claw, fly over the head of a reploid who was so burnt and damaged that even their skull was damaged and the rest of the synthetic skin was simply burned away, showing all the wires, blood vessels and synthetic organs laying there. It didn't bother Mega Man too much; he'd had to work on the internals of his siblings before so he'd seen enough android guts to not be grossed out. Axl on the other hand was once again close to throwing up.

As they watched the Met open up the skull of the reploid and reveal the always complex brain. A perfect mix of synthetic flesh and electronic wiring that Mega Man felt suddenly rather proud to be one of the first three bearers of. "Look at that, think about it, I'm one of the first three robots ever to have that," Mega Man said proudly, "And it still works perfectly after three hundred years."

"Yeah, yeah," Axl said, trying not to look.

"What's it doing?" Zero asked, moving to stand beside Mega Man and watching closely as the Met actually cut open the brain. There, at the center of it, was a microchip that was barely a millimetre squared.

"It's a command chip," Mega Man said in awe.

"What's a command chip?" Net asked.

"It's the most important part of any android's design," Axl said, "Our command chips are the part of our brains that gives us our identity, without them we're nothing more than mindless shells."

"So they're like your souls," Net surmised.

"Never thought of it like that," Mega Man said, "But yeah, you could put it that way."

"Mine's changed bodies," Zero said, "I self-destructed to destroy Vile's ride armour and sank with Sigma's fortress, but my command chip was the one piece of me the Hunters retrieved."

"Oh yeah I remember being told that story," Axl said.

"I didn't expect you to know android biology Axl," Glace said, also not looking.

"It's basic, all androids know that."

"That's what you'd think," Glace added sarcastically. Mega Man meanwhile watched as the Met carefully extracted the command chip and placed it in a small tube at the edge of the bench where it vanished in a brief glow of blue light.

"Teleported," Mega Man and Zero said together.

"So they extract the command chip and dump the rest," Mega Man said, "But... why?"

"Don't complain," Glace chastised, sounding much happier at this news, "If their command chips survive it means we can get these poor robots new bodies!"

"You're right Glace, but Mega Man has a point," Zero said, "Why remove that one bit and dump the rest?"

"Guess we'll find out," Mega Man said, gesturing for them to follow him across the bridges. On the other side of the bridges were the tubes that pumped up the molten mix of melted android parts and dumped it into vats. In the vats Mega Man noticed that the liquid lost no heat at all, so said his scans. A Met would push the vat, mounted on wheels, down the length of room and into an elevator where they were carried upwards. "And that's our ticket out of here," Mega Man said.

They hurried to the elevator and just managed to make it inside before the doors closed. They stood next to the silent Met and its cargo as the elevator began moving up, all the androids taking a moment to clear their heads after what had been a rather traumatic experience, even for them. Mega Man was still pondering the question of where the command chips were being sent, but finally resolved to take his own words to heart and just wait and see.

The next floor, where the Met pushed its cargo off, was full of machines, primitive ones as far as the androids were concerned, that processed the liquid from the vats into various forms. Mega Man led them off the elevator after a few minutes and wound their way through them. The finished materials were put on carts and pushed by Mets down a hall to a pair of oddly recognizable doors. These opened to show an elevator terminal like the floor below, only with seven elevators instead of ten. "You've got to be freakin' kidding me!" Axl said angrily, "We went through that messed up room down there when we could've just gone into another elevator!"

"Looks like we learned something," Mega Man noted, having Zero summon a different elevator to the one the Met they were following was using. They boarded it and continued on upwards. This time the elevator ride seemed significantly longer than before, allowing the group a little time to just chat. All the robots wanted to get the incinerator out of their heads.

"Any idea how we're going to deal with Copy X?" Zero asked.

"I hope we don't have to fight him," Mega Man said, "But knowing my luck with negotiation we probably will."

"You'd try to negotiate with him even after seeing what he was doing down there?" Axl asked incredulously.

"I feel bad for him. Think about it Axl, think about what it would be like to be nothing but a false copy of someone else? No identity of your own, not even your own body, all you have belongs to someone else," Mega Man explained.

Axl's expression immediately softened as he thought over this. "I... never thought of it that way," he muttered, "That would be horrible."

"Yes, and all he can do is try and prove that he's not a copy, and yet also as great as the real X," Zero said, "It would be enough to drive any robot mad."

"I've had copies," Mega Man said, "Copy Man, a type of clone robot that used an auxiliary unit to apply the attributes, form and memories of a chosen to robot onto a blank template. It was one of Wily's cruellest creations; making blank shells to be turned into copies. I still feel sorry for them, and I regret that I couldn't help them."

"So you want to help Copy X be his own person?" Glace asked.

Mega Man nodded. "I hope he'll be willing to listen."

"Unfortunately that's not a strong point of anyone we meet," Site noted.

"I'd like it if we could just play soccer or have a skateboarding competition," Net said lightly, "I think that's why we humans invented sports; as a peaceful and fun way to resolve conflicts."

"That's... oddly insightful," Zero said with surprise.

"Net here's always ready to surprise people with his insight," Site said.

"I can tell you all the morals in Star Potter: Reloaded," Net said, "I love that movie."

"_We_ love that movie," Site corrected.

"Never heard of it," Mega Man said. The elevator finally came to a stop and they stepped out to see that it was the only elevator left; all the others had ended further down. The terminal led off to only three doors, all a fair bit smaller than the ones below.

"You're watching Star Potter with us when we get out of this," Site said, "It's such an awesome series. It started after your time though."

"I think after all of our times, Axl and me have seen them only because of our time spent as humans," Zero said, opening one of the doors with his Zero Knuckle. "And yeah, they're awesome movies."

"Sounds like fun," Mega Man said, leading them down the slightly dim hallway on the other side. At the end he could see a little bit of a very large room, but the more notable thing he could see was Pantheons, Guardians to be precise.

The group immediately flattened themselves against the wall and moved along it carefully. They could just see the edges of two Pantheons standing on either side of the hall's exit, and so Mega Man had Net, Site and Axl move to the other side of the hall. They inched along until they were at the end where they swiftly grabbed the Pantheons and knocked them unconscious with a good solid punch to their simple heads.

"Good job," Mega Man whispered to Axl as they gathered up again.

"Stealth is one of my specialties," Axl replied, "Along with being good looking, being hilarious and being a hero."

"Not to mention your modesty," Zero said sarcastically.

"Alright you two... woah," Mega Man said as he finally got a good look at the place. It was a massive room lined on both side with row upon row of tube-shaped capsules with dome-shaped ends. In fact Mega Man thought they looked rather like stripped down, streamlined versions of Dr. Light's and X's upgrade pods.

It seemed that the capsules could float on their own, to an extent, but seemed to mostly rely on green mechaniloids with propellers and a pair of suction-cup tipped arms. These Sky Claws would pull out a pod that need repositioning and move it to the new location.

Directly in front of them was some stairs up to a sort of viewing platform, complete with a panel of buttons that made it clear it was the location to call a pod over to inspect it. "So what's the deal with those things?" Net asked looking at the pods.

"Let's take a look," Mega Man said, moving up the stairs to the console. He already had a pretty good idea of what they might be, but he wanted to confirm his suspicions. His hands flew across the console with ease. As a robot he was naturally talented with computers, seeing as they were extremely primitive versions of his kind.

When he was finished a pod far up the left wall slid out a bit and was grabbed by a Sky Claw which then carried it down to them. As it neared the platform Mega Man could see that his suspicions were right; the pods were prison cells; cryogenic prison cells.

The Sky Claw and its cargo came to a stop right in front of the platform. Mega Man took a closer look and saw that inside was a reploid in the shape of a little girl, about eight, with a pink dress and long blonde hair. "Alouette!" Glace cried with surprise, "How... how could anyone do this to you?"

"You know her?" Mega Man asked, to which Glace nodded sadly, placing her hand on the pod's glass-like surface. The small reploid had her eyes open, but they were blank and unseeing and her whole body was covered in a thin sheet of frost. "Let me see if I can open it," Mega Man said, looking over the pod's control panel. The part facing them was the pod's door, with the control panel right next to it.

Its functions were pretty simple really, each button had a short form written on it, but in all honesty Mega Man wasn't sure what most of them were for. He just found the one that said 'OPE' which opened the pod, and then one that said 'REV' which vented the pod of the cryogenic chemicals and did something that woke Alouette up.

The girl blinked as consciousness returned to her. "Wh-where am I?" she asked as Mega Man helped her down from the pod. "Zero!" she cried as her eyes landed on the red-clad reploid.

"Um, hello," Zero said awkwardly, "Nice to meet you Alouette." The girl looked like she'd been slapped in the face, though Zero wasn't entirely sure what he'd done wrong.

"It's me Mr. Zero, don't you remember?" the girl said with concern. Zero simply shook his head, finding himself thoroughly confused.

"No I'm afraid I don't, but my memory's not particularly great right now," Zero said.

"Then how do you know my name?" Alouette asked.

"Glace told us," Zero said, gesturing to the white-haired girl.

"Glace? Oh hiya Glace!" Alouette said, hugging her, "I remember you! Secret Operations was what sis called you right? I'm glad you remember me."

"You were a spy?" Mega Man asked with surprise and mild amusement.

"Well... yeah, kinda," Glace said sheepishly as Alouette let go of her. "I wanted to help the Resistance, and I told Lady Ciel that I could give them inside information. And of course I occasionally got to hang out with little Alouette here."

Meanwhile Alouette had been gazing at Mega Man, blinking as if she was trying to make sure what she was seeing was real. "Are you..." she said with awe, walking over and grabbing his hand with hers. "You're Mr. X's big brother aren't you," Alouette asked.

"Not sure he would take too kindly to the name 'Mr. X'," Rush said with a snicker.

"Yes Alouette," Mega Man said, ignoring Rush, "I'm X's brother. I'm Mega Man, nice to meet you."

"Wow," Alouette said with awe, "If it wasn't for you, none of us reploids would ever have been made."

"You wouldn't happen to know where your sister is would you?" Axl asked, "She has the other code to restore blondie's memories."

"No, I'm afraid I don't," Alouette said, "All she told me was that she wanted to see the new world, but promised she'd be back. Oh, you must be Axl, Zero talked about you sometimes. He said you're a reckless hothead who makes bad jokes at bad times."

Axl shot Zero a sour look. "Hey don't look at me Axl, I don't even remember saying it," Zero said.

"The first two parts are arguable, but nobody calls my jokes bad," Axl said indignantly, "You know what I discovered about you Zero?" he said, his tone suddenly sounding inquiring, with a slightly threatening edge.

"What?" Zero asked, confused by the sudden change in discussion.

"I found out that you're ticklish," Axl said, and before Zero could react, his friend's fingers reached his ribs and he dropped to the ground laughing and squirming.

"Stop," he gasped.

"What do you say?" Axl asked.

"I'm s-sorry I said your jokes were bad." Immediately Axl stopped and Zero took a few moments to catch his breath as he stood up.

"You're ruthless when your jokes are bashed," Mega Man said.

"They're my pride and joy," Axl said, "Haven't had too many ideas for any though."

"So Alouette," Mega Man said, "Do you know any ways to get up to the command room of the Nexus?"

Alouette shook her head. "Oh, who're those two?" she asked, pointing to Net and Site.

"Humans," Mega Man said, "They're Lan and Hub."

"We're Net and Site when wearing these cool outfits," Net corrected, "Nice to meet you Alouette."

"Same."

Mega Man frowned as he thought about their situation. He supposed there was an elevator of some kind at the far end of the prison and so had the group set off in that direction, though he wasn't sure what to do with Alouette. The place was crawling with Pantheons, which made the anti-virus field useless. So for the time being he let her ride on his shoulders, he figured the safest spot she could be was with him.

They were about halfway across when Mega Man heard the sound of rushing and Alouette cried out. Everyone in the group jumped aside as a pair of green energy scimitars came crashing to the ground. The owner of the blades was a tall, yellow armoured reploid with four arms, three holding scimitars while a fourth held a shield. He wore a red mask and had a strange helmet that made Mega Man think of a bishop in chess.

It pulled its blades from the ground and stood tall before announcing; "Interlopers, you will be destroyed by Asura Basura!"


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

"I'll protect you Alouette," Mega Man said, setting the girl down and standing in front of her. Asura Basura didn't seem particularly interested in her though, he was far more interested in the warriors who'd fought their way to him. Nevertheless Asura Basura seemed to deem Mega Man the primary threat and moved towards him at lightning speed, preparing all three scimitars to strike. Mega Man whipped out the M-Sabre and Buster Sabre and blocked the strike with them.

"Another swordsman?" Asura Basura said with a hint of amusement, trying to break through Mega Man's block.

"Three actually," Mega Man said as a pair of glowing green blades tore through two of Asura Basura's arms from behind. The strikes had, of course, come from Net and Zero, who joined at Mega Man's side as Asura Basura stumbled back with two arms, and with them two blades, gone. "Good job you two," Mega Man said, his buster returning to normal, but he kept the M-Sabre ready. "Now I hate to interrogate under conditions like this, but I have no choice," Mega Man said. Behind Asura Basura stood Site, Axl and Glace with weapons ready, while Mega Man, Net and Zero had their blades pointed at the reploid.

"How do we get to Copy X's throne room?" Zero asked.

"What makes you think I'll answer?" Asura Basura asked. "We haven't lost yet."

"We?" Mega Man asked. Suddenly he felt electricity course through his body and the force of four great claws swat him aside. He'd felt the burning pain of electricity often enough to cope with it, and he saw Zero and Net having been tossed aside as well and also getting to their feet. The attacker, Mega Man saw as he got to his feet, was a large reploid in the shape of a bipedal black panther with four sharp claws on each hand that crackled with electricity. His colour worked to his advantage in the dark room as he was still barely visible.

"Panter Flauclaws," Asura Basura said, "The save is much appreciated."

"Perhaps if your skills were more up to my calibre you wouldn't have needed it," Panter said.

At the same time Mega Man saw the rest of the group had also been blasted away and were getting to their feet. The source of their sudden trouble was a large, orange, bird-like reploid with twin tails and a pair of wings instead if arms, while fire seemed to wreath him constantly. "Phoenix something I assume," Mega Man said, readying his M-Sabre while the rest of his friends prepared to fight.

"Rather impudent little brat aren't you?" the reploid said, "I am Phoenix Magnion, and you will face my fires."

"Three of you now," Mega Man said, "We can still take you."

"And Zero, another chance to prove that we are superior to you," Phoenix added, "Rising Flame!" the reploid cried. His body was suddenly engulfed in flames and he shot towards the three of them as a fiery missile, with his talons ready. The three of them jumped aside and Phoenix Magnion stopped short of the ground and instead sent the flames surrounding him spreading outwards in a wave of searing fire.

Mega Man jumped over it the best he could, but felt the heat through his boots and it burned. He saw Zero and Net had been struck in the spot, as when they landed they both winced slightly. Mega Man's colours changed to white and blue and he aimed right at Phoenix Magnion and gave Zero and Net a nod to indicate that they should strike when he did. "Water Jet!" he cried, firing a stream of pressurized water at the flying reploid.

When it struck the force and wet, which enough to smother some of his fires, caused Phoenix Magnion to lose its focus and it crashed right to the ground where Zero and Net swiftly finished him off. Their blades moved almost in unison as they sliced the Maverick in two. The Phoenix Magnion exploded and left nothing but dust.

Meanwhile Axl, Site and Glace fought Panter Flauclaws, who'd sent a wave of electricity spreading across the ground out from him, and managed to act fast enough that all three still felt electricity course through their legs. Axl gritted his teeth against the pain of the electric burn and held his pistols ready, but didn't fire. He needed a way to make them pack more of a punch. Except he hadn't used that feature of them and he didn't know if he could even make it work.

"What are you standing still for!" Site cried as he dodged a strike from Panter who turned to see Axl standing still. Just in time Axl jumped back, narrowly avoiding being shredded into pieces. He shook his head and looked at Panter with determination. He'd never faltered before and he never would.

Axl toyed with the pistols and surprised everyone when he managed to click them together. They glowed as they changed form and when the light faded Axl was holding a white-blue bazooka. "Ice Launcher!" he cried, firing a barrage of ice shards right at the charging Panter Flauclaws. The Maverick charged right into the heavy chunks of ice and its charge was brought to a complete stop. It stumbled around while shots Site and Glace had fired connected as well. It crashed to the ground and exploded while Axl returned his pistols to their normal form.

"That was kind of awesome," Site said, running over to him.

"It's a special feature," Axl said, "Drains the power pack though, so I can't use it too much." The group gathered back together and turned to where Asura Basura had been, only to see he'd vanished.

"Mega Man! Help!" cried the voice of Alouette. Mega Man whirled around to see the girl reploid being held tightly by the neck by Asura who had his one remaining scimitar ready to shred her small body to pieces. The sight of this made Mega Man's heart skip a beat, it was the very situation he'd been dreading.

"Let her go!" Mega Man yelled furiously.

"Or what?" Asura asked, "If you attack than she'll be hurt."

"You slime," Zero spat, "At least have the decency to fight honourably."

"I don't much care for 'honour'. Now you will do as I say, or the girl gets destroyed," Asura said.

"I don't think so," Mega Man said, charging up his Necro Flame.

"No, stop that!" Asura cried angrily, but it was too late and Mega Man released the charge and became his spectre form again. Furiously he charged at Asura, draining life-force from him and causing him to drop Alouette. With that done Mega Man returned to normal, but continued to furiously assault Asura. He shifted to Terrakinesis and used his now extremely enhanced strength to tear off Asura's remaining arms and then kicked the Maverick with such force that he went flying across the room.

"Okay Mega Man!" Glace cried as he chased after the badly injured Asura. Mega Man came to him and pressed his foot down hard on the reploid's chest, breaking through the armour and beginning to press down on every synthetic in him. Although robots couldn't choke the pressure on the power core had a similar effect as it prevented power from flowing and thus caused them to become lightheaded. And of course it hurt.

"You dare threaten someone as innocent as Alouette," Mega Man hissed furiously, a rage had come over him like he'd never felt before. "No tell me before I kill you how we get to Copy X," Mega Man said.

"Y-you go to the end of the prison, there's an elevator there," Asura gasped, "But you need to head right."

"Thanks," Mega Man said, grabbing the larger reploid by the throat and hurling around to the ground, leaving him dazed and even more injured than he was.

"No, st-stop," Asura gasped as Mega Man advanced on him. Mega Man ignored him and prepared to crush his head, the one spot that could potentially leave an android permanently shut down if it was damaged or destroyed.

"Enough Mega Man!" Glace cried, moving to stand between the two, "You've done enough, you've won, now please calm down."

"But he-" Mega Man said.

"I know what he did," Glace said, "Just please calm down." To Mega Man's surprise she wrapped his arms around him in a hug, "Please don't become someone you're not." The feeling of her embrace made him feel like someone had poured cool water over the fire that had lit inside him. The anger dissipated and he took a few deep breaths to fully calm himself before finally he returned the hug.

"Thanks Glace," he said gently, "I'm sorry I lost myself for a minute."

"See, I said you're perfect for each other," Axl said as he dashed over. Almost immediately Mega Man and Glace jumped apart like they'd shocked each other.

"N-no, she was just," Mega Man started.

"Calming you down, yeah I saw," Axl said. "Speaking of that, you just reminded me of someone," Axl added, very obviously pointing to Zero who ran up.

"I don't do that anymore," Zero protested, "But yeah that outburst did kind of resemble how I used to act."

"And here I thought you'd grown out of your tantrums," Rush muttered.

"Oh... yeah," Mega Man replied, sounding sheepish. "I'm sorry Asura," he said, much to the Maverick's surprise.

"Why are you apologizing to me?" Asura asked.

"Because I went further than I should've and continued to attack you even though you'd ceased to be a threat," Mega Man explained, "But don't think you're being let off the hook. When Neo Arcadia is back to normal you'll be repaired and set to work paying your dues," he added. With that he dashed back to where Alouette had fallen, leaving Asura Basura thoroughly confused, but also unwilling to move.

"Are you okay?" Mega Man asked as he came to Alouette's side. She'd been sitting still watching the exchange, and yet didn't seem particularly fazed by Mega Man's tantrum.

"I'm fine," Alouette said, getting to her feet.

"I'm sorry you saw me get like that," Mega Man said, "There's no excuse for treating anyone, even an enemy, that way."

"That's okay, I've seen angrier people than that," Alouette said, "So, are you and Glace in love?"

"Wha- no!" Mega Man said, perhaps a bit too quickly.

"Yeah they are," Axl said casually.

"Anyways," Mega Man said abruptly, "There's an elevator at the end of the prison, so I think we should get looking for it."

Axl and Alouette shared a knowing look before following Mega Man in walking down the prison. Mega Man really had no idea what to do with Alouette, but even with what had just happened he felt better just letting her walk along with them. "So Zero," she said, "How did you survive? Everyone seemed so sure that you'd been... you know."

Zero shrugged, "X and Ciel turned me into a human apparently. X only told me an abbreviated version and I don't remember any of my life after going into stasis after the Maverick Wars."

"Not even sis?" Alouette asked.

"I kind of remember her," Zero said, "I remember... well, I remember that I liked her."

"Liked?" Alouette asked with a knowing smile.

"I think so," Zero replied, "It's one of the few memories I have of here, and even it's a little fuzzy. There was something I wanted to tell her too... but I can't remember what."

"Oh Alouette, what happened to your cyber-elf friend?" Glace asked, "Please don't tell me he got infected too."

"No, Ami's fine," Alouette said, "Mr. X taught him how to hide. I do miss him though."

"You'll get to see him again soon," Mega Man said, "There's not much of Neo Arcadia left to cleanse."

"I know! Now I see where Mr. Zero gets all his skill from," Alouette said brightly, "He had to have been inspired by you."

"You think?" Mega Man asked, "He kinda reminds me of my older brother, particularly the rudeness part."

"I'm right here you know," Zero said with mild indignation.

"Don't worry buddy, people talk about you behind your back all the time," Axl said, patting his friend on the back.

"Thanks," Zero said sarcastically.

"Hey Zero, what do you think of me making an older body?" Alouette asked abruptly.

"I don't know, why do you ask?" Zero said, sounding confused.

"It was something I've been considering for a long time, but I'm not sure if I should go through with it."

"Wait, you androids can transfer yourselves to different bodies?" Net asked, "I thought only Mechaniloids could do that."

"Of course we can," Axl said, sounding offended, "Anything a primitive mechaniloid can do we androids can do better."

"Yeah, that's like saying 'I didn't know humans could climb trees, I thought that was something only monkeys could do'," Zero added.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Maybe I do need to read more," Net said.

"Somebody pinch me, I think I'm dreaming," Site said.

"I think you should wait until all this is over Alouette," Glace said, "But afterwards I think that if you want to take on a new body then you should. But only if that's what you really want to do."

"If your new body's hot then I definitely support it," Axl said.

"Can I kick him?" Alouette asked Mega Man.

"Sure, go ahead."

"No, that's okay," Axl said quickly, "Hey look, we're almost at the end." They were, ahead in the dim lighting was another wall of prison tubes and in the middle of the wall was a tunnel that ran out into other parts of the Nexus. What Mega Man was looking for was, as Asura said, to their right, tucked away in a corner, was a barely visible blue elevator that was considerably smaller than the others. As they approached the androids could all see it was also much more secure than the previous elevators, and even Site's keen eyes noticed things that stood out to him as providing security. Primarily there seemed to be no way to open it.

"Um... anyone else see the problem here?" Net asked.

"Well let's see if Zero can do his thing first," Mega Man said. Zero used his Zero Knuckle on the door, but all that happened was the energy dissipated into the metal and the door remained shut tight.

"What if it's voice locked?" Zero asked.

"Then we might have a problem," Mega Man said, "Though if it _is_ voice locked I imagine it's to X's voice."

"You didn't happen to catch a recording of him did you Rush?" Glace asked.

"Apologies Glace, but I'm afraid I didn't foresee a need arising for such a thing," Rush said. "What about you Scout?"

"The same situation I'm afraid," the usually silent robo-dog answered. "Can Mega Man imitate his voice?"

"What? Why me?" Mega Man asked, "I can't imitate, well, not well."

"He's your brother though," Net said, "And you're a copycat, isn't mimicking things what you do?"

"Tools and weapons, not voices."

"All you really have to do is lower your voice to sound pubescent though," Site said.

"Oh yeah that's 'all' I have to do," Mega Man replied sarcastically.

"Just try," Zero said, "Since when are you one to back away from a challenge?"

"I think it's more an impossibility than a challenge," Mega Man said, "But I guess I can try." He really had no idea what he was doing, but he took a deep breath and when he spoke he tried to keep his voice sounding deeper and a bit more adult. "Open," he said, in his best impression of X's voice. It didn't sound very much like his brother at all and he wasn't surprised when the doors didn't budge.

"Maybe it's not voice controlled," Net suggested.

'Copy X is based on X, who was in turn partly based on me,' Mega Man thought, 'so we all think similarly. So if I really wanted to keep someone out of somewhere, how would _I_ lock it?' He walked up to the door and placed a hand gently on it, banishing all thoughts of forcing it open from his mind. "Please open," he said quietly. At this the doors slid open revealing a clean, blue elevator within.

"How did you do that?" Axl asked with surprise.

"It's how I would lock something," Mega Man said, "The only way a lock would open if I designed it would be if the one entering wasn't forcing it or ordering it. You'd have to be peaceful and kind."

"That's pretty smart," Site said.

"Let's go," Zero said, stepping into the elevator, everyone else following quickly behind. There was only a single button which pointed up. Mega Man pressed it and they started moving. "How'd you figure that out?" Zero asked.

"Copy X is based on my brother who was based on me," Mega Man said simply, "We think enough alike that I figured I could just look at the situation as though it were something I had locked."

"You two really are a lot alike," Axl said.

"Yeah," Zero agreed, "Peaceful and nice, but ready to kick butt if you have to."

"And never wanting to kick butt and yet being so good at it," Axl added.

"Well we _are_ Dr. Light's best work," Mega Man boasted playfully, "Can't deny quality."

"You sound like Axl," Site said.

"Hey!" Axl cried indignantly. "I only boast about _my_ quality because it's true. You're not going to find a reploid this funny or good looking anywhere."

"Not going to find a female reploid who cares either," Glace quipped cheekily.

"Some of them do," Axl replied. "Oh! Here's one since we're facing a copy. So a copy-bot is walking down the street, then he turns into a store."

"Really?" Zero asked.

"Not bad," Mega Man said with a chuckle. "Oh, the elevator's slowing."

Shortly after he spoke the elevator came to a complete halt. The door slid open to reveal a blue-tinted metal room with a red carpet leading down the middle, though the elevator was in a far corner of the room. The carpet led up to a large, decorated pair of doors that the group quickly made their way over to. "Alouette, you stay here okay?" said Mega Man to the small reploid. She nodded, looking rather drowsy and yawned.

"I'm getting sleepy anyways," Alouette said and moved to a corner of the room.

"Are you all ready?" Mega Man asked. The group nodded and Mega Man pulled the doors open.


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

The throne room the group entered was a rather simple affair. It was simply a large room with a blue-tint to its purely metal construction. The ceiling was quite high up, but was flat and undecorated. In fact the lack of decoration seemed odd to Mega Man, considering the ego of Copy X. He looked back down the room to see the red carpet ran up to a dais atop which sat a throne. Atop the throne sat none other than Copy X.

The name was aptly applied too, as Copy X really did look identical to Mega Man's brother. Though Mega Man noted that the copy's eyes were blue, like his own, rather than green like he was told the original had. And while he shared the original's blue helmet with red light at his forehead, and blue vambraces and boots similar in design to Zero's, and worn by X in his later life, Copy X lacked the original's armour. Instead Copy X wore a blue vest with a red 'x' across it, similar to the Four Guardians, and under this wore the same close-fitting black outfit as everyone else in Neo Arcadia, with a second layer of the stuff coloured blue and covering his torso.

"I see you made it up to me," Copy X said, leaning back on the throne in amusement, "I suppose I must congratulate you, but then I have to ask; why are you so intent on disrupting progress?"

"This isn't progress Copy X," Mega Man said, "You've hurt, tortured and killed innocent reploids and mechaniloids just to serve your own self-glorification."

"They are all necessary sacrifices. Besides, who cares about primitive mechaniloids? Remember that androids began as the Robot Masters. You should know better than anyone that mechaniloids merely exist to serve us higher robots," Copy X said carelessly, "They're not developed enough to feel emotions anyways."

"That's horrible!" Glace cried, "You throw away all lives just because you deem it 'necessary'? Those mechaniloids have enough emotional programming to know what it feels like to be treated like dirt. And those reploids you put into those cryo-pods, what about them?"

"Oh yes them," said Copy X, sounding as though he'd forgotten, "I had to put the Resistance away until I could figure out what to do with them, and any further rebels I encountered. Some were executed, but I couldn't do that to everyone.

"You see I want a reploid world. No humans, mechaniloids for slaves, and definitely no cyber-elves. I'll need every reploid I can get to assure the cyber-elves are wiped out once Sigma's new empire is born. With the Pantheon Army deployed to assist Sigma, the Resistance will be my only method for wiping out the cyber-elves. After that the destruction of Sigma and the humans will be an easy feat."

"You used to want to protect humans, now you want to destroy them?" Glace asked with confused horror.

"I can change my opinion can't I?"

"Copy X, you don't have to do this," Mega Man said pleadingly, "I know it's hard being a copy, but hurting and killing aren't the way to prove your existence."

"Of course it is. When I am a war hero then all reploids will see I'm every bit the saviour and protector my loathsome original was. And if they don't then I'll crush them!"

"No, that's not the way," bemoaned Mega Man, "Please, let me help you."

"Enough!" Copy X ordered, getting to his feet, "Either you join me or I will destroy you."

"You can't defeat all of us," Axl said, "You may not have noticed but the numbers are against you."

"Not for long," Copy X said, snapping his fingers. Blue force barriers appeared in the middle of the group and moved towards the walls of the throne room, pushing all but Mega Man with them. When the barriers came to a stop the newly imprisoned group was left with about four meters between the barrier and the wall. Net, Axl, Rush and the elves were on one side, while Glace, Site, Scout, and Zero were on the other. "I will destroy you one at a time," finished Copy X.

He glowed with energy and when it faded Copy X was instead garbed in white and gold armour, similar in style to that of his Pantheon Elite, only with an angelic appearance. The blue second layer of armour-cloth had vanished, as had the vest, replaced with a breastplate consisting of a red diamond with a white wing on either side pointing diagonally upwards. His boots had changed to white and more embellished, with a gold winged anklet and another gold wing on the side of the knees. His vambraces were similar, though one arm was now an armed buster instead with gold blade-shaped wings and an angular teardrop shaped gold ornament on the top. From his back spread a pair of gold and white wings and five more protruded from his helmet.

"Behold my Ultimate Armour!" Copy X cried and fired a superheated bolt of plasma, far more powerful than the normal buster shots, or even the version used by his Elites. Even as Mega Man dove aside from it, he felt the heat of its passing as it just barely missed his foot. He rolled back to his feet and fired several rapid shots at Copy X who jumped over the first couple and dashed through the air towards him, surrounded in a flaming aura of energy. "Nova Strike!" he cried as Mega Man felt him smash into him.

The Blue Bomber was sent flying across the room to crash into one of the energy walls on the sides of the room. Copy X landed on his feet and smirked as Mega Man slid down the wall into a pile on the floor. "You can't defeat me you outdated fool," Copy X said, aiming his buster.

Mega Man felt pain wrack his body as he tried to get to his feet, and he managed to slide under a plasma shot and fired his Gatling Buster, copied from Site's battle chips. The shots peppered across the floor ahead of him as he slid, and finally made contact. Copy X grunted in shock as the energy bolts cut across his less armoured abdomen before the burst ended. Mega Man charged towards Copy X and fired a charged shot at almost point blank.

It was Copy X's turn to be sent flying back, but he righted himself and sprang off the wall, his base colour changing from dark blue to light red and he fired a stream of flame at Mega Man. The Blue Bomber responded by firing a charged water jet that knocked Copy X from the air, but who quickly changed to light green and fired a bolt of lightning that made contact and wracked Mega Man's body with pain. Mega Man responded with Frosthrower that caused the hovering Copy X to come crashing to the ground with iced wings.

Then Copy X changed to light blue and fired shards of ice, only for Mega Man to respond with Flamethrower and causing scorch marks to appear on Copy X's armour, and some burns on the skin on his face, while Mega Man felt like his arm was almost taken off by one of the ice shards. Copy X returned to normal and the two continued their fight, plasma flying as they clashed. Yet neither seemed to make progress and it was beginning to seem like they'd tear each other apart.

The two paused for a moment to catch their breath, and Mega Man had an idea. He saw Copy X charging up a charged plasma shot, colourful ribbons flowing into the buster as it prepared to fire. Mega Man waited until Copy X fired and then in a flash he activated his Buster Blade, the copied version of the M-Sabre. He slashed at the gold-green blast and, as he'd expected, the blade deflected the attack and sent it hurtling back towards a very surprised Copy X. The reploid cried in agony as his own plasma shot engulfed him in its intense heat and energy. Mega Man watched and waited until the energy dissipated.

When it did it left a smoking Copy X with his glorious Ultimate Armour charred and badly damaged. He collapsed to his hands and knees and took a number of deep breaths. "How? How did you beat me? I am better than your brother, I should be able to tear you apart," Copy X gasped.

"Dr. Light didn't make anyone more powerful than anyone else," Mega Man explained, "We all have our strengths and weaknesses. He was focused on developing our personalities, not our weaponry. Now come on, we don't need to keep fighting."

"You're right," Copy X said, "It's time I ended this!"

"That's not what I meant!" Mega Man protested, "Please, let me help you!"

"You can help by standing still while I destroy you with my full power!" Copy X cried furiously, getting shakily to his feet. With the last burst of strength he jumped into the air and glowed white until his entire form was obscured by white energy. It expanded into an orb of light that engulfed the reploid while ribbons of energy flowed into it from all around the room. Then in a final blast of light the orb vanished and a transformed Copy X emerged.

Copy X's new form was considerably less humanoid, with his head and torso being all that remained of his body, with his breastplate wider and on top of a gold-trimmed version of his vest. From his waist down there was only a large blue spike with gold trim at the top and a white line zigzagging around the conical spike. As such he floated in midair and would be unable to walk if he wanted to.

More notable though were the large, wide, conical shaped shoulders with spikes where arms would extend from. These shoulders had a similar blue and gold trim and floating near the shoulders was a pair of large, blue armoured hands with four glistening claws on each hand. They reminded Mega Man of giant, cruel versions of his own hands, or perhaps his brother's, and he was sure they would hurt a lot to be hit by. They each even had the end of a buster barrel set into the palm, meaning they had two ways to lay the hurt on him.

Also notable in this new form were the six wings come from Copy X's back. Each set of three wings was attached to a curved frame that was in turn attached to Copy X's back. The frame was white, as were the tops of the wings, while three blade-like structures extended downwards to look like feathers. Altogether it made Copy X seem like some sort of robotic angel, complete with a halo of energy that hovered around his head, but was offset by the demonic red eyes the glowed in his eye sockets.

"With my Seraph Form I'm more than enough for you," Copy X growled. A large portion of the floor around the two suddenly changed into a field of spikes, leading Mega Man in a circular arena with Copy X hovering over him and glaring down at him with a cruel grin on his face. He aimed his palms at him and fired twin laser blasts from the busters in them. Mega Man jumped away and the lasers fizzled out into the floor. He was followed by a flurry of laser blasts, with Copy X adjusting his aim after each miss until Mega Man was fenced in and some of the shots connected.

The shots punched holes through Mega Man's base armour and exposing burnt skin underneath. Immediately his nanites went to work repairing the armour, but the heat and unexpected strength of the shots had forced Mega Man to the floor. That someone had managed to burn holes in his armour was incredible, and yet he couldn't give up. He took a deep breath and got to his feet again. "I can't lose," he said, "Not after coming this far."

"There's nothing you can do to stop progress," Copy X said. He fired another pair of laser blasts, but Mega Man dashed out of the way and fired back, using his buster and aiming for Copy X's head. A couple shots seemed to connect, but they didn't seem to do more than some small charring. Copy X still growled, more in frustration than pain, and fired a strange sweeping ray from his chest. It didn't seem to do anything and Mega Man felt it harmlessly pass over. Immediately afterwards he saw the entire stretch of ground that the ray had swept over was ignited into a raging inferno. Mega Man only barely made it out of the way, and still felt the heat of it.

The moment he landed he shifted to Necro Flame and charged it up, but this time only fired when it had reached charge-level one. A swirling aura of dark purple flame appeared around him, shielding him from any attack. That wasn't all he could do with a charge-level one though. He aimed up at Copy X as the transformed reploid bore down on him, passing easily over the swath of flame across the arena and looking even more demonic as the flames leapt up around him. Then Mega Man fired his buster, and a portion of his shield of flame broke off as a fireball of dark flame and shot straight at Copy X's head.

Copy X cried out in pain and anger as the dark flames scorched his face and for a moment raged across his entire body as they drained his power cells. However the blast wasn't enough to knock him out and he folded his giant hands across his body and, to Mega Man's surprise, made a halo of energy drop down. Mega Man didn't move fast enough and felt his arms snap to his sides as the halo surrounded him and bound his body like he was being held tight by a giant fist. It was so strong it even made his Necro Flame shield dissipate.

"There you are, in my grasp like you should be," Copy X said, hovering over to him.

"Copy X, think, stop and look at yourself," Mega Man pleaded, "Copy or not, you're still X. You know deep down that this is wrong."

"Quiet!" Copy X yelled and raised his hands, ready to fire laser blasts at point-blank. Mega Man doubted he could endure that many strikes and still live, so he had to escape his bonds _now_. He shifted to Terrakinesis and strained against the halo with all his greatly enhanced strength. Mega Man felt its hold weaken and with a final push it broke and Copy X's blasts shot through empty air.

Mega Man landed and immediately changed to Frosthrower and charged up, running from another halo that Copy X attempted to drop on him. When his weapon was charged to level three he stopped, turned, and fired his Arctic Laser attack. The blast of energy struck Copy X and drained all the heat from him and the air around him, freezing his internal liquids solid and making ice form on his wings. The angelic reploid crashed to the ground, frozen solid, and landing partially in the swath of flame cutting across the arena.

The Blue Bomber waited, catching his breath while he watched Copy X's inert form being licked by the flames. The fall had cracked one of his wings, and caused the other to break off entirely, and the flames were quickly consuming the spike that completed his hover system. The moment the ice began to thaw, Copy X glowed white and in a flash he'd reverted back to his original form, albeit badly injured and with a broken helmet. He was unconscious, and as such the spikes returned to normal floor and the barriers imprisoning Mega Man's friends vanished. The fire still burned though and Mega Man was quick to use Water Jet to put it out.

"That was amazing Mega Man!" Axl cried in awe, "You never cease to surprise me."

"Didn't surprise me one bit," Zero said, "With all the things X managed to do, I didn't doubt his older brother could defeat a cheap copy."

"Are you okay?" Glace asked, seeing the injured Mega Man looking down sadly at Copy X's inert form.

"Of course not," Mega Man said, kneeling down next to Copy X and sighed, "He only wants to be seen as his own person instead of a copy."

"Well," Rush said, "Perhaps we should give him a name. Maybe if we start calling him by a new name when he wakes up he'll feel more like his own person."

"I guess," Mega Man muttered, "But what should we call him?"

"Well," Site piped up, "The X in your brother's name is meant to be the letter chi right?"

"Right, cause he had unlimited potential," Zero said with realization, "I remember that. So then logically a good name for Copy X would be another letter in the Greek alphabet that's used in mathematics."

"What about... gamma?" the elves suggested.

"I have bad associations with the name 'Gamma'," Mega Man said, vividly remembering the giant robot Dr. Light and Dr. Wily had created together.

"What about 'alpha'?" Zero suggested.

"I'm thinking more like 'beta'," Mega Man mused.

"What about Psi?" Glace suggested, "Psi is used in the Schrodinger equation which describes how quantum states change over time."

"And we hope Copy X will change over time," Mega Man said, "Good idea! Psi it is."

"There's nowhere comfortable where we can put him," Net said, looking around the empty room.

"Just see what you can find," Mega Man said and the twins set off around the room, looking for a passage to a bedroom or living room. Meanwhile Mega Man sat next to the newly renamed Psi and had the unconscious reploid's head rest against his thigh while Glace worked her healing magic.

"You know, I never thought about this, but how exactly do we remove this level from the virus' influence," Axl said after a time, "This guy hasn't got a virus core, and he's not its proper ruler either."

"I'm going to guess it's X," Zero said simply, "Just seems like his sort of thing, even if he doesn't have a body."

"You know him best," Axl said, shrugging.

"Yeah, he's a cool guy," Zero said, "And one of the strongest people I've ever known."

"I know I'm another," Axl said, "I just thought of something; what if Lumine's been revived too?"

"What?" Mega Man asked.

"Well if Sigma's back, then couldn't Lumine show up too?"

"Not unless someone's willing to go to the moon and retrieve him," Zero said, "Remember we left him in pieces up there, and he's not a virus like Sigma."

"Wasn't his viral code lost in the vacuum of space?" Mega Man asked.

"Didn't Dr. Wily 'repent' every time you beat him?" Zero countered, "You know as well as I do that evil never dies, just changes form. I would theorize that it took a couple hundred years for his code to reform, but it did and now he wants us all dead."

"He's moving," Glace said suddenly, and moments later everyone had gathered around the slowly waking Psi.

The reploid's eyes opened and he looked up at them all with emotions so rapidly changing it was hard to place them. "Is it not enough you almost kill me that you have to bring me back just to mock me?" Psi asked bitterly.

"We wanted to heal you Psi," Mega Man said.

"What did you call me?" Psi said with surprise.

"Oh, we decided to give you a name," Zero said, "It was Rush's idea."

"Wish you'd been this nice last time," Psi muttered to Zero.

"Last time?" Zero asked.

"Do you like the name?" Glace interrupted, "We thought it fit you because it represents the ability to change over time."

"I... I don't know," Psi said, "I've never had my own name before. But why are you doing all this for me? I tried to kill you, and for all you know I could strangle Mega Man right now."

"Because I'm not ready to give up on you," Mega Man said, "You've done horrible things, but it's never too late to start over. And now you have a name, so that's a start."

"What're you saying?" Psi asked, sitting up, though clutching his shoulder.

"I'm saying I forgive you," Mega Man said kindly, "I had my own copy once; I talked to him. He told me what it's like being just a copy of someone, but I couldn't save him. I'm not failing a second time." To Psi's surprise, Mega Man gave him a friendly hug, "You're Psi now, and you don't have to prove yourself as anything. You can be who you want to be."

Mega Man pulled back and saw Psi's eyes were damp and teary, like he was ready to cry. "I've never been hugged before," he said, sniffling.

"You want to be loved don't you?" Mega Man said.

Psi nodded, "Ciel, she made me, then she just abandoned me. I never learned what I was supposed to do or how, just that I was supposed to be a heroic leader."

"She was only a little girl when she made you," Glace said, "She couldn't have known how to raise a reploid son."

"I guess..." Psi said, wiping his eyes.

"How do we remove the virus' influence from this area?" Axl asked.

"Under my throne," Psi said. He moved down the room to his throne and pushed it aside to show the glowing red core sitting underneath.

"Why don't you destroy it?" Mega Man suggested. "Be a hero."

"Um, okay," Psi said, changing his arm into a buster and firing at the red core. It shattered and immediately the entire Nexus began to shake. "Oh yeah," Psi said, looking around the throne room, "I was only able to control this with the virus, without it I lose my control and it'll fall apart."

"Then let's get out!" Axl cried, moving for the doors. In front of them appeared the ethereal form of X and making him jump a foot in the air. "X! Would you stop doing that!"

"Sorry Axl," X said cheerfully, "But guess who the boss of reploid city."

"You?" Axl guessed.

"Yup," X replied, "So it means I control the atomic re-arrangement system, and it means I can change this city back." X's hands glowed blue and he raised them high like he was casting a spell. The world around them distorted and morphed, flowing like water or melted wax while blue light shone all around them.

Then everything began to reform and the light faded. When it had all finished they were now standing on an observation deck on top of a clock tower, considerably smaller than the Nexus, but still fairly tall. It looked sort of like the bell room of a bell tower, but lacking bells. The floor was carpeted and a hatch in the floor concealed the steps. Mega Man moved through one of the four arched openings onto a small observation platform around its perimeter.

The tower was part of a simple town hall and the city had changed completely into a simpler, early twenty-first century design, with fewer factories and more houses and shops, with only a handful of skyscrapers across the skyline, though all of the tall buildings dwarfed the town hall. "It looks like home," Mega Man muttered as X came to his side.

"Yeah, I designed it to be based on Abel City when dad was alive."

"Those were the best years of my life," Mega Man said sadly, "Wily or no Wily, I still had my family."

"Hey, I had my own version of Abel City, only I never got to enjoy it. It seemed I was always fighting some kind of Maverick," X replied.

"Speaking of them," Mega Man said, "We need to talk about Sigma."

"Oh yeah, I know about that already," X said and grinned at his older brother's surprise, "Don't make that face, Neo Arcadia can tap into television and radio signals, plus I know what the Dark Queen is up to. Just cause I'm your baby brother doesn't mean I'm clueless." X punctuated the last statement with a grin.

"Maybe you should respect your elders," Mega Man replied cheekily, "But seriously X, I need your advice."

"I know, but we can't talk about that now. Neo Arcadia featured primarily in Sigma's initial stratagem and the Mother Elf still isn't healed. Until she is this progress could be temporary."

"Then we'll have to get moving," Mega Man said, turning to his friends.

"Can I come with you?" Psi asked.

"Of course," Mega Man said, "I don't think there was any doubt."

"I miss being taller than five feet," Axl muttered, looking at Psi.

"It's less than a foot of difference," Mega Man said, "You'll get used to it. Now come on guys, let's go!"


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

As they climbed down the clock tower they found Alouette sleeping on one of the landings found at each corner, each connected to one another by stairs going around the tower's perimeter. Mega Man shook her gently to wake her up. "It's over Alouette," he said.

The young reploid looked around at the changed scenery and her face lit up. "Wow! You actually did it Mega Man," she cheered and hugged him. Then she saw Psi and her expression soured.

"What's he doing here?" Alouette asked bitterly.

"I want a second chance," Psi said sombrely.

"After what you've done? Three time!" Alouette asked angrily.

"They gave me a name," Psi said. "I want my own identity. I don't want to just be seen as a bugged copy. And I want to find mother."

"A name?"

"Psi, my name is Psi. Please Aunt Alouette, give me a chance," Psi pleaded.

"Aunt?" Axl asked with confusion.

"Alouette is Ciel's adopted sister," Glace explained.

"Yes, and so she's my aunt," Psi added.

"Okay, I guess I can give you a chance to redeem yourself," Alouette said, "And don't call me 'aunt'."

"Thank you, I won't let anyone down," Psi said, "I promise."

"I know you'll keep it," Mega Man said, "And when we get out of here remind me to ask Dr. Lumin if he can make you a new body."

"A new body?" Psi asked.

"Yeah, a new body so you can have your own appearance."

Psi's mouth dropped open and he was speechless for a few moments. "My own body? You... my own..." he stuttered excitedly. "You guys don't have to be so nice to me, not until I earn it."

"It's fine," Mega Man assured, "It's called compassion. We want to help you."

"And stop being so glum," Axl added, "Take a lesson from the Z-Man here."

"Yeah, I learned from humans that it's always best to be positive," Zero said, "I've done bad things, Mega Man's done bad things, Axl's done bad things, but we put those things behind us and start anew. And I believe you can do it too."

"Thanks Zero," Psi said. They came to the bottom of the tower and quickly exited the town hall onto streets full of recently released prisoners, all reploids and all thrilled at their freedom. Then they caught sight of Psi and silence fell over the crowd as they all turned sour glances towards the former ruler.

"I guess we should've foreseen this," said Site as the crowd began to advance on Psi.

"You worthless traitor," one of them said, "I'm glad they took you prisoner so we can give you a little payback."

"Yeah," another, a boy with spiky blue-black hair and a green headband, said, "He tried to make me work! Hard!" There was a loud 'get him' from the crowd but, before they could move a step; X appeared in front of them.

"Lord X!" the boy reploid cried in surprise.

"Yes Menart. And I have to say I'm rather disappointed in all of you," X said, "Forming an angry mob is not an action that Neo Arcadia was built on, nor is judging a situation without all the information."

"But he-" one of the reploids began to protest.

"It doesn't matter what he has done," Mega Man said, stepping up beside his brother, "It matters what he will do. He destroyed the virus core and freed this level, and he has a name of his own now. He's not just a copy, his name is Psi and I want everyone to treat him like someone completely new."

"Good job," X said, "And he's right. He's not just Copy X now, his name is Psi and he wants to start over, so please everyone give him that chance."

The crowd mumbled amongst itself. Glace stepped forward as well and spoke up "As a member of the old Resistance I've already agreed to give Psi a new chance, and he deserves it. There's nothing worse than being just a copy, and any robot should be able to understand that. Psi deserves to be treated and seen as more than a copy, and he deserves to be given a second chance."

"I support him too," Zero said, stepping forwards and causing a ripple to go through the crowd.

"Is that really you Zero?" Menart asked incredulously.

"Yes, and I support Psi too. As a city built for peace and kindness, you should all be ashamed of yourself for treating him like an animal. Yes he's done bad things, but so have I, and so have the cyber-elves, but we still treat them with kindness when they cease hostilities. Now that Psi has done the same, he deserves that same kindness."

"So come on guys, give the poor guy a chance," Mega Man said, walking into the crowd, "Let him be treated as himself, not as a copy of someone."

"He's right," Menart said after a long silence.

"Agreed," said another reploid, this one a boy about X's age with a green vest, white pants and a pair of goggles on his head with spiky brown hair.

"I'm with Menart and Colbor," another reploid said, and a ripple went through the crowd as they all agreed.

"Alright, um, Psi, we'll give you another chance," the first reploid who spoke said.

"Really!" Psi said gleefully, "Oh thank you, thank you, I promise everyone I'm not going to squander it." The crowd began to disperse and Mega Man was glad to see that Psi was actually smiling. "Oh and everyone," Psi said quickly, "I know it doesn't mean much, but... I'm really sorry for everything I've done."

"Every little bit helps," one of the remaining reploids said, an old man clutching a cane.

"Andre right?" Glace asked.

"Yes that's right. Or Andrew, it doesn't matter. I have to say I had always secretly hoped you could change Psi, but Zero over there never really bothered to listen to me."

"I'm afraid Zero's memories are a bit busted at the moment," X said, "Which seems to happen to him a lot now I think about it."

"We should get going," Psi said, "We only have the Dark Forest, the Dark City and the Palace of Darkness."

"Creative names," Axl quipped sarcastically.

"The elves made them up, not me," Psi defended.

"Detruis and Deses made them up," Atla added.

"I hate those new names they gave themselves," Alouette puffed.

"New names?" Mega Man asked, confused.

"They used to be the twin children of the Mother Elf, Crea and Prea," Alouette explained, "I named them after French words meaning create and pray."

"Their new names are based on words meaning destruction and despair," Glace finished.

"That's sad," Mega Man said, "But Psi's right, let's get going."

"Okay," X said, "I have work to do down here, but I'll see you when all this is finished. Look after each other."

"We will," Psi said and X vanished while the group waved good-bye to Alouette and set off across the city.

((()))

"So what's this Dark Forest like?" Axl asked as they neared the edge of the city and began walking through residential areas.

"It used to be another nature area, but for cyber-elves. Now it's kind of like those fairy forests you read about in books," Psi explained, "Lots of illusions and traps. We'll need to stick together or we could get lost."

"Don't think any of us planned to split up," Net replied.

"What about-" Psi began and raised his hand in Zero's direction.

"I don't do that sort of thing anymore," Zero interrupted, "I work with my friends now."

"You _have_ changed," Psi said with surprise.

"Look at this place," cried Mega Man happily, running down the street of houses cheerily. They were carbon copies of houses from his own time, of houses he knew personally. Except the people he knew didn't live there, and they weren't the original versions, and these thoughts creeping into his mind seemed to ruin the joy he was feeling at seeing home again. After all this wasn't really home; home had different people and it was a different time. "It's so much like home, but it's just not the same," Mega Man said at last, leaning against one of the fences.

"You have a new home with Dr. Lumin," Axl said, "I know it's hard, I still miss Red Alert sometimes, but I made the Maverick Hunters my new home, and now the Elsins, my adopted parents, are my home."

"He's right," said Glace, "You have to make a new home. Maybe it won't be the same as your first, but you have to try."

"All I need is my family; then I'll be fine," Mega Man replied and took a deep breath before adding; "Alright let's go."

They made their way through the outskirts until they finally came to the elevator. They stepped on and it began moving with a tap of a button. Like always they chatted to pass time; the journey usually took about five or ten minutes. "So if there're multiple dimensions," Axl said, "What kind of alternate selves do you think are out there?"

"What brought that up?" Mega Man asked with surprise.

"Just thinking out loud. So what kind of alternate Mega Men do you think there are?"

"I'd like to meet a human version of myself," Mega Man said, "Humans are so fascinating with how durable they are in those fleshy bodies; I'd like to see how my human self has managed."

"I'd like to see one who... Iris," Zero muttered glumly, "Um, I hope there's one who realized how to be happy earlier in his life. Probably be human."

"What about where Mega Man and Site are one in the same?" Net asked, "Hub Hikari becomes Mega Man and I just help him out, or something like that."

"What if there's some sort of evil version of Mega Man?" Glace asked.

"That... would be terrifying," Axl said.

"A version of me using his power to conquer the world," Mega Man mused, "That would be terrifying. He probably is out there somewhere, but I hope I don't have to meet him anytime soon; or ever for that matter."

"Maybe there's a cyborg version," Site said, "Or a really primitive version."

"I'd like to see a version of Axl who's humble," Zero said, "Not sure if that's possible though."

"Very funny," Axl said sarcastically, "What about steam-powered versions of us?"

"That would make mechaniloids look advanced," said Glace.

"I was thinking more about a version of me with an older design. Like, made to look fifteen instead of ten," said Mega Man, "Now that would be cool."

"Yeah, and maybe Rush would sound like that dog from the old cartoon; Doo-something," Net added cheekily.

"That's kinda messed up," Mega Man replied.

"Yeah, I am not some cartoon dog," Rush defended indignantly.

"Calm down, I was kidding," Net said, "Hey look we're here."

The elevator stopped and the group stepped out into what looked like a temperate rainforest in the middle of a cloudy evening. The sky was overcast and a light drizzle trickled through the mossy branches of the tall trees, both deciduous and coniferous. The ground was covered mostly with ferns, some bushes and the occasional moss covered rock or log. Nearby Mega Man could hear a small river flowing through the forest, but he couldn't actually see it from where they stood. The dusk-like lighting didn't help things as there was only barely enough light to see by without enhancement systems and the others echoed this sentiment.

"Doesn't seem that illusory," Mega Man said as they began to push through the bushes and ferns, taking care not to slip on the mossy parts of the ground.

"False security," Psi cautioned, "Don't let your guard down for a minute."

"I wasn't planning to."

"If I recall, the passage to the Dark City is through a teleportation pad in the middle of the forest," Glace said.

"You mean like a... televator?" Axl joked, "Get it?"

"Wow..." Zero muttered, "That's less funny than usual." Mega Man however chuckled at the joke and Axl grinned at the sight.

"That's just cause you have no sense of humour. Mega Man thinks it's funny."

"Really?" Net asked, "You thought that was funny Mega Man?"

"Yup," the blue robot affirmed.

"Come on guys, focus," Psi pressed.

"Don't worry Psi," Axl assured, "We're just trying to lighten the mood."

"This isn't any time to be light, this is serious," Psi protested.

"Exactly," Mega Man said, "Making jokes and chatting is how we keep our spirits up when dealing with bad stuff like this."

"Oh," Psi muttered. They were all surprised when a horde of small creatures burst from the ferns and surrounded them. They were about waist-height with lean, but thin bodies wearing black armour and with ugly, almost deformed faces. They held sharp energy spears, but the presence of small wings gave away their identities as shape-shifted cyber-elves. "Goblins," Psi said, firing at one. It disintegrated easily enough, but another two appeared in its place.

"Of course," Mega Man muttered bitterly, as the group joined the fight, destroying the goblins as they crawled from the forest around them. He waited until there was a break in their numbers before rallying his friends to push onwards. In the forest though, that was difficult.

Soon it wasn't just the Goblin-Elves either. Larger variants, which were orcs according to Psi, soon appeared who stood about six feet tall and dwarfed the goblins. They wielded weapons like axes and maces sheathed in energy that each member of the group found hurt a good deal even if grazed. Between energy sabers, buster blasts and elemental attacks they fell almost as easily as their smaller brethren, but more appeared. It was like they'd entered a hornet's nest, and Mega Man supposed they pretty much had.

"It just doesn't stop," Zero said after what was almost a half hour of almost nonstop fighting.

"And we're not getting anywhere," Site said, "Every time we move even a little bit we get surrounded or pushed back."

"I know, I'm thinking," Mega Man said. This was exactly what he'd been worried about; if they were killed then it would be his fault. They followed him, he shouldn't have let them. 'No time to think about that now,' he thought, 'As long as there's a spark in my body nobody's going to die!' He wasn't sure how to clear the way, but he did have a way for them to get a rest. "Glace, set up the device."

"Of course!" Glace cried and grabbed the Anti-Virus Generator from its storage spot on Scout. The boys held off the orc and goblin army for another few minutes and in a flash of light the glowing anti-virus bubble appeared around them, with the Generator at its center. The cyber-elves who didn't leave in time were immediately purged of the virus and their monstrous forms melted away to reveal very humanoid cyber-elves who looked far more like human children than Atla, Lem and Mun. Though they still had horns, brightly coloured hair and their characteristic wings, and they dressed in robes as colourful as their hair. Their big, shiny eyes twinkled with joy at having been freed, but quickly turned to their still infected brethren.

"Oh right, the New Generation cyber-elves," Atla said. "Aren't they cute?"

"Watch it grandma," a red-headed cyber-elf said, "I'm not 'cute' I'm awesome."

"A cyber-elf Axl, great," Zero muttered.

"So what're the New Generation cyber-elves?" Mega Man asked.

"Well most of the ones you've met up until now, us included, have been Old Generation. We were the remnants of the ones from the old Neo Arcadia, or based off their programming structure," Mun explained, "More specifically most of us were based on Croire, the mimic elf given to, well to you Zero."

"Shortly before the war there was a whole new breed of cyber-elf being developed, based on Lord X, Lord Elpizo and the old Nurse-type elves. They're the New Generation Elves, with more humanoid forms and greater shapeshifting powers, plus the abilities of all three of the old breeds," Lem finished. "I don't think too many made it to adulthood though."

"Like you three little stunted old elves?" the red-headed cyber-elf asked again.

"Our programming was a bit messed up," Atla defended, "Just because our bodies never matured doesn't mean our minds didn't. And it doesn't mean you can disrespect us!"

"But we're better than you. Who were the ones who got us all infected in the first place!" the red-haired elf retorted rudely.

"I'm not that bad," Axl whispered to Zero who couldn't help but nod.

"You're blaming our generation for all this?" Atla asked, his temper actually rising.

"You dealt with viruses and junk before!" the red-haired elf argued back, "Your generation should've known how to deal with it and to make us more resistant to those kinds of things!"

"And how do you suggest we would've known about that?" Atla asked, "To our knowledge you were resistant!"

"You should've checked better you old fashioned-"

"Enough!" Mega Man ordered angrily, stepping between the two bickering elves. "What's your name?" he asked the red-haired elf.

"Ardent."

"Well Ardent, everyone makes mistakes, even elders. The situation here is the fault of the virus, not your allies," Mega Man said sternly. "And Atla, even if it was a mistake, it was a mistake nonetheless. You may not have been able to prevent this or known about it, but you still have to acknowledge your mistake and accept some of the responsibility. And by joining us, I think you have. Thanks to you we've gotten much further than we could've done alone."

The elves were silent while the goblins and orcs circled around the bubble, waiting for its occupants to leave. "I'm sorry," Ardent said at last, "He's right, it's not anyone's fault."

"And maybe there was something we could've done to prevent the infection," Atla said, "But that's in the past. We're so close to removing it completely."

"But we're getting boxed in by these stupid dark elves," Axl spat bitterly, shooting one of the goblins down.

"Well we can get to know each other a bit," Net suggested, "Not like we're going anywhere soon."

"Well," Ardent said, "You already know I'm Ardent, the one with the orange hair is Odo, the one with the yellow hair is Yvet, the one with the green hair is Garlyn, and the blue haired one is Lance. That's all the boys."

"And the girls are," Lance began, picking up for Ardent, "The indigo haired one is Iva, the violet haired one is, well, Violet. Let me see... the girl with the pink hair is Piera, the one with magenta hair is Maia and finally the one with aqua hair is Audra."

"Nice to meet you all," Mega Man said happily. "I'm Rock Light, or Mega Man when I'm wearing my armour. These are Glace, Lan, or Net when he's wearing armour, Hub, or Site, Axl, Zero and Psi, formerly Copy X-"

"Copy X!" Ardent cried angrily, "What're you doing here!"

"Making up for everything bad I did," Psi replied.

"It's okay," Glace added, "He means it, we're sure."

"I hope so," Ardent muttered.

"Anyways," continued Mega Man, "The elves are Atla, Lem and Mun, and the robo-dogs are my best friend Rush and Glace's friend Scout. And that's everyone."

"Wow," Lance said, "Mega Man, Zero, Axl and Rush. Can I have your autographs when this is over?"

"I can't write," Rush said bluntly.

"I'll sign one for ya buddy," Mega Man said, "And you know what? I think I might have just gotten an idea on how to get to the elevator."


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

"So what's your plan?" Site asked.

"It's not a plan, it's an idea," Mega Man corrected.

"What's the difference?"

"A plan is thorough, an idea is just a thought," Mega Man explained.

"You really do make things up as you go," Zero muttered, "You, X and Axl, always being so reckless."

"Well what's this idea then?" Axl pressed.

"I was thinking Ardent and his friends here could help. A little Elf Fusion on all of us and we might be able to blast through these things."

"Oh yeah!" Lance said cheerily. "All you need to do is get to the elevator, although that _is_ still quite a ways I guess."

"Doesn't matter" Mega Man said, "It's the only idea I have."

"I'll fuse with you," Lance suggested immediately, "The Elf who fused with Mega Man, I'll be the envy of everyone!"

"I think the best should fuse with the best," Ardent said, "Which means I fuse with the Forebearer."

"What about me?" Audra asked, "What girl elf wouldn't want to fuse with Mega Man? He's so dreamy and cute and gorgeous."

"What kind of a reason is that?" Odo asked as Mega Man felt his cheeks redden.

"R-really, you guys don't have to argue who fuses with whom," Mega Man said.

"I'll fuse with you," Violet volunteered, "Just let the others argue."

"Okay I'm going to call it right now," Glace interrupted, "No girl elves fusing with boys."

"What! Why not?" Piera asked dejectedly.

"It's too weird."

"I guess she has a point," said Mega Man, "I'll fuse with Lance."

"Awesome!" Lance cried happily.

"I'll fuse with Ardent, I like that kid," Axl said.

"I'm not surprised," Zero muttered, "I'll go with Odo."

"I got Audra," Glace said.

"What about me?" Psi asked quietly.

"What about you?" Mega Man asked.

"Who am I paired with?"

"Whoever you want, except one of the girls apparently," Mega Man explained with a shrug.

"I'll partner with you," Garlyn offered kindly.

"Thanks," Psi replied, "So are we ready?"

"As ever," the others echoed.

"Elf Fusion!" the androids cried, the elves they partnered with becoming light and merging with them. When the process had ended they each bore coloured symbols on their faces instead of the armour that came from Atla, Lem and Mun.

"Anyone else feel kinda powerful?" Mega Man asked.

"Yeah, I wonder what we can do," Glace mused.

'Energy manipulation,' came Lance's voice in Mega Man's head. Mega Man frowned and raised his hand towards the orcs. A blast of blue energy issued forth, shredding the surrounding cyber-elves to pieces as they returned to cyberspace.

"That was cool," Mega Man muttered, "Excessive and violent, but cool."

"It was awesome!" Axl cried, using his own elf powers to shoot blasts of fire at the horde. "And so was that!"

"Anyways, pack up the emitter Glace and let's get moving," Mega Man said. Glace did as asked and the orcs and goblins almost immediately tried to swarm them. Mega Man launched his bursts of energy at them, and Axl his fire. When Glace attacked sonic waves echoed forth, blasting the cyber-elves apart. Psi fought with powerful wind attacks, while Zero's normally incredible speed had been heightened to supersonic levels. The rest of the cyber-elves fought with unique powers of their own, like magnetism and gravity, and the result was an almost unstoppable charge that cut a swath through the enemy's numbers.

Then with a final burst of power the horde of orcs and goblins dissipated entirely, leaving a forest as silent and dark as it had been when they first entered it. "Did we win?" Axl asked.

Mega Man shook his head. They'd vanished too easily, he'd seen this sort of thing happen too many times before to trust it; one enemy vanished when a stronger one was approaching. "You've been in as many battles as I have Axl, you know what this sort of thing means," said Mega Man.

"No harm in hoping it's not," Axl replied with a shrug. The moment he finished the entire forest seemed to shudder; branches creaked and leaves rustled and the very trunks seemed to bend and twist into new shapes.

"Oh this trick," Lance said, appearing in a ghostly form next to Mega Man, his body trailing off into his partner's own from his waist down.

"It's the Freaky Forest," Piera said excitedly, "I love this one!"

"The what now?" Site asked.

"Freaky Forest! It's like one of those Halloween mazes, only made of spooky trees that move around and try to block you, you gotta find your way through," Maia explained, "Except Piera's apparently forgotten that the dark elf version also involves the trees trying to kill you."

"Oh yeah," Piera muttered.

"We don't have time to play games," Mega Man said, blasting apart one of the trees as it pulled itself into their path. It shattered into pieces, but within minutes the tree's spot was filled by another that inched into the path. Mega Man frowned in thought as he took in this new development. "Axl, try using fire," Mega Man ordered. Axl let loose a blast of flame that burned the tree to ash and set the surrounding ones on fire, creaking madly at the sudden strike. This time the trees didn't fill the space, though they certainly tried to.

"I'm thinking we should move before our path gets blocked again," Site said to which everyone uttered agreement as they dashed through the space in the trees. On the other side was a sort of hallway, surrounded by trees, which they dashed down. Mega Man really did feel like they were in a maze, except the maze shifted every few minutes. Whenever they came to a dead end, Axl blasted it with fire and they slipped through before it was sealed.

Then at last they saw it; a large circular clearing in the forest in which sat a wide stone circle like the ones Mega Man had seen in England. There was a white line connecting each stone and a second that formed a circle within the stone one, which Mega Man guessed was where they would need to stand to get the elevator moving. However when they had gathered on the circle, nothing happened. They ran through a number of voice commands and searched for activation devices, but they could find nothing.

"Okay, so what's the deal here?" Axl asked. "Why isn't anything happening?"

"Well," Zero began, "It hasn't responded to me or Mega Man, so maybe this isn't the right place, or maybe the method of activation is elsewhere."

"It's the right place," Psi confirmed, "I'm not sure why it's not working, unless..."

"Unless?" Mega Man pressed.

"Unless it's not running," Psi said, "There's a control room underneath where a couple reploids were stationed to run and maintain the automated systems, including registering riders to ensure they're authorized. If there's nobody down there, then we'll have to go down and register ourselves and turn the elevator back on."

"That doesn't sound too difficult," Net said.

"Well, no, except we can't go in as a group. Part of security requires each person to go down a separate tunnel, all hidden near the stones. The elves and the dogs are the only ones who don't have to go, but they also can't accompany us," Psi explained further. "The elves always have authorization, and the dogs were never considered a security risk."

"Still doesn't sound difficult," Net repeated.

"But remember what Psi said?" Mega Man noted, "The elves are fond of illusions. Having us separated and each alone will be the best time to ambush us with some kind of trick."

"I can take it," Axl boasted, "I'm the best after all."

"While not a fat head like Axl, I do think I can handle some elven illusions," Zero agreed.

"Then if you guys are ready, we have to de-fuse with our elves and then stand behind one of the stones," Psi explained.

They all did as they were told and the elves they'd fused with reappeared near them, while the runes that symbolized their fusion vanished. Mega Man took up position behind one of the stones, as did everyone else; Psi included, and awaited further instruction. Mega Man noticed that each of the stones had some kind of hand print on the back, both indented and painted white like a caveman mark.

"Place your hand on the hand print," Psi said, "And you'll be warped into the Underhenge."

"Underhenge? That's what they called it?" Site asked with a snicker.

"I told you I didn't make up the names."

"Anyways," Mega Man interrupted, "So we press these hand marks, we get warped underneath and we find the command room."

"It's direct path from the warp points to the command room," Psi added, "Theoretically it's easy."

"Okay, then on the count of three everyone warps," Mega Man said. He counted down and then he saw everyone place their hands on the stone, and he quickly followed suit. He'd teleported enough times to recognize the sensation, and he felt it now; like being on a roller coaster just as it begins to fly down from a high point, but mixed with a sort of static shock. Everything went white around him as he vanished from the surface and shot through the earth as energy and preparing to materialize elsewhere.

Axl blinked as the teleportation light dimmed and vanished, signifying the completion of his trip. After teleporting he found everything always seemed darker, and the dim lights in the small, square room he found himself in didn't help much. Though he thought it was good that the walls were at least white, that helped amplify the light a little. He found he was standing on a small, circular platform, slightly raised from the surrounding floor, and with a small hand scan box in front of him that obviously was meant to help get him out.

"But I don't want to leave," Axl muttered to himself, "I want to move forward." He hopped off the platform and through the sole door that slid up and out of the way and allowed him to walk through. On the other side was a rather long, but simple corridor with even dimmer lighting and darker coloured walls. Along the top were a couple surveillance cameras, but nothing else particularly notable. "No security and no tricks," Axl commented, "This is so easy it's boring."

"Welcome to our playhouse," an elf voice whispered from somewhere around him.

"Who's there?" Axl asked, "Show yourself."

"Why would I want to show myself to you?" the elf asked, "Nobody wants to be seen by a freak."

"What did you say!" Axl cried, feeling both anger and fear flare up inside him.

"You're a freak, nobody wants to be seen by you, and nobody wants to see you," the elf voice answered. "Why do you think X cared so little about you fleeing? He was glad to be rid of a monster like you."

"That's ridiculous, he hadn't seen me until yesterday," Axl replied, trying to remain cheerful and ignore the doubts.

"And yet he made no effort to find you. Nobody did," said a new voice, a female one. Axl looked around and saw a girl appear from the other end of the hall. She was about the same age as his original body, and had dirty blond hair tied in a ponytail, and was dressed casually in an indigo Neo Arcadian vest, the common black full body undergarment, and violet pants. Her eyes were purple as well, and to Axl it was almost like he was seeing a ghost.

"Saga," he cried with surprise and joy and immediately dashed over to hug her, "I haven't seen you in so long."

"Get off me freak," Saga snapped, throwing him off and making his heart sink more. "Had it not occurred to you that I didn't _want_ to see you?"

"B-but, you encouraged me to follow my heart and leave Red Alert," Axl protested.

"Of course I did, because I didn't think Red Alert should bother with an experimental freak like you. You know you're just a monster who nobody likes, so just accept it," the female reploid said cruelly. Then she walked past him to the door and left through the warp.

Axl felt like his heart had been ripped out and crushed, and he'd been left an empty husk in the middle of a cold, lonely void. He was too scared to move forwards, he couldn't face the others anymore; it was just a matter of time until they told him what Saga had just told him.

He was crying, he could feel it, but he didn't care, he just felt like curling up into a ball and waiting for his power cells to run out. It was his worst fear; abandonment and it had come true. He was abandoned and alone down here in this tunnel. Broken, afraid and crying he collapsed to the floor, not sure what else he could do.

Glace grinned as she stepped through the doors into the security hall. Maybe it was her time as a spy coming back to her, or the influence of the guys, but she was feeling so much more confident now. Living in her little hole for fifty years she had begun to wonder if there was any hope at all of ever freeing Neo Arcadia. Now with Mega Man around and having freed the vast majority of it she was much more confident and certain. "Never give up," she said to herself, "That's what they taught me; never give up."

"Is that so?" hissed a voice from the darkness ahead. Glace peered down the hall to try and see what it was, and jumped back almost a foot with a squeak when she saw it to be a positively gigantic spider. Its legs spread across the hall and some of them had to walk along the walls due to the bloated body's massive size. A dozen red eyes glared at her and made her shiver with fear.

"No friends around to help support you now," the spider hissed as it made its way down the hall.

Glace gulped but stood her ground, even though she could feel her heart racing with fear. She was afraid of spiders, she'd never really figured out why; it probably was just a phobia and thus irrational. It wasn't uncommon for robots to develop psychological disorders like humans, Vile was a famous example. It was a side-effect of advanced personality programming. "I-I'm not scared."

"You cannot escape, you're stuck in the web," the spider hissed. Glace looked around frantically to see the walls had suddenly become encased in web, and she was stuck to it. She tried to strike with her ice attack, but found webs binding her body together. At this discovery she felt the fear grip her completely; she was trapped, caught, and faced with a threat she couldn't fight. "Tell me Glace, were you really a spy? Or were you more of a traitor?"

"What! I wasn't... I was always working with the Resistance, since the day I was created. My father supported and funded them."

"And yet as a spy you created false allegiances, fake allies, you lived a lie and betrayed them on a daily basis. What is a spy but a traitor to the trust of others?"

"I-"

"And yet you hold some distrust of Psi still, isn't it ironic that she who is the least trustworthy distrusts one who was always honest with his goals."

"Stop it!" Glace cried, terror clutching her heart and guilt growing in her mind.

"You know it's true, and now you're caught in the web and no amount of trickery can save you."

Net walked into the security hall feeling confident. There wasn't anything in sight, and he wouldn't be scared by illusions. He grinned and dashed down the hall, figuring he'd just get to the control room first and wait for the others. "The others will be surprised," he said to himself. He was so confident in fact that he was unprepared when a pair of dark elves, similar to the pair from Lady Aqua's domain, appeared from the darkness and attacked him. They held strange dark whips that burned when they lashed him, and they blasted him with dark flame until he was forced to the ground, at which point they used the whips to bind him.

"Not so tough at all are you?" one of the elves, a boy, taunted. Net was still recovering from the sheer shock and began to struggle the moment he noticed he was bound.

"Let me go!" he shouted, struggling with all his enhanced strength.

"Not until you've seen our show," the other elf, a girl, replied. "Bring them in!"

The elf boy snapped his fingers and from the darkness appeared a pair of figures who Net knew very well; his own parents. "Mom! Dad!" he cried with worry and fear.

"Lan! It was Sigma's forces, they captured us and brought us here," Yuichiro, Net's dad, explained quickly.

"What're you going to do to them?" Net yelled angrily.

"What do you think we're going to do?" the male elf asked, producing dark flame that he promptly fired straight at Yuichiro. His body was burned and dissolved by the purple-black fire until nothing but ash was left. Seconds later Net watched in horror as his mother was burned to nothingness as well. It happened so fast, and yet seemed to take an eternity; the black-purple flames consuming her and reducing her to ash.

He could hear someone screaming, the sound echoing around the hall and it took him a moment to realize he was the source as he yelled his disbelief and horror at what had just happened. 'It can't be real,' he thought as he struggled against his bonds and tears ran down his furious face. "When I get a hold of you I'll- grrr!" he yelled angrily, growling and roaring like a berserker as he strained against his bonds.

Then suddenly the whips vanished and Net sprang to his feet with blade drawn and ready, breathing heavily from the struggle and his anger. But the elves had vanished and the hall was empty save for the piles of dust that had been Net's parents. He rushed to them and felt his rage turn into sadness as tears rolled down his face without any hesitation. This was what he was most afraid of. He couldn't stand losing anyone. He'd almost lost his brother once to illness; he couldn't let that happen again. And now he just had.

"Hub!" he gasped and dashed back towards the doors he came in through, only to find they were locked. His anger flared up again as he became desperate and he through punch after enhanced punch at the door, but nothing could break it, or even dent it. "I have to help... my brother," he gasped as he sank to the floor in defeat. "I hope he'll be okay."


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

Site stepped through the door and into the hall feeling slightly nervous. If the elves tried something tricky that he couldn't physically fight then he wasn't really sure what to do. Nonetheless he pushed through the simple hall and forced himself to remain confident that he could deal with anything that crossed his path.

However as Site moved down the hall he couldn't see anything obstructing him at all, not even a spike pit. But out of the corner of his eye he occasionally caught sight of a flicker of movement. It was so brief and so faint that he was sure he was imagining, and yet he couldn't quite convince himself that was the case. He was almost at the door and sure he wouldn't see anything when, right in front of him, appeared a transparent man with ragged clothing, clanking chains wrapped around his limbs, and his body giving off a pale flame. His face was twisted and burned looking.

The sight made Site cry out and jump back in terror. "A g-ghost," he stuttered, backing away.

"Nothing you can do," the ghost murmured as it drifted towards him slowly, the pale flames whirling around it and stretching out towards him. "Like your heart... helpless."

"Go away!" Site yelled with terror, backing away from the ghost only to feel a sharp pain on his back that felt cold, yet burned like fire. He jumped forwards and turned to see another ghost with tendrils of pale flame reach out and one of which had hit Site's back. The boy tried to shoot it, but the plasma bolts went right through its body.

"It is hopeless... you are helpless," the ghosts droned emotionlessly, closing in on him.

"No! I'm not!" Site cried, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to forget about his worst fear closing in on him on both sides.

"Couldn't heal... heart... this is the same."

"No, no, no! It's not!" Site yelled, crouching down and covering his ears. "Go away!" He was helpless, it was true. He couldn't fight them, they couldn't be hit. He swore he would never be helpless again after his heart was cured, and yet here he was, back to that same state. Like back then he had no idea what to do and sat still to think of a plan or, failing that, await the inevitable end.

((()))

Zero, meanwhile, had his own fears to face. It didn't help that he couldn't exactly remember them all. He'd entered his hallway just like the others, feeling brave; though also trying to stay aware. He wasn't exactly sure what to expect, just that it was bad. And he was right; like a nightmare given form there appeared, from a swirl of shadows, a sinister clone of himself. Its armour was dark purple instead of red and its eyes glowed orange. "The Nightmare," Zero muttered, drawing his sword and striking at the clone.

The Nightmare Zero blocked the strike with a red-bladed saber of its own. Not many people knew that Zero had encountered the Nightmare Phenomenon version of himself as well. In fact he wasn't sure he'd told anyone except for X. The thing sent chills up his spine, as did the memories of it. It was like a manifestation of his evil side, of the virus that had lurked in his system ever since his awakening and only been removed when he given his first new body. Now he was in his second new body and the virus was nothing but a memory, but it was a terrifying memory that he'd been trying not to think about.

Now here it was, fighting him like an evil twin, and it was hard not to let his fear take over. There was also a strange sensation, like he'd done this sort of fight not so long ago. 'Maybe it's one of my missing memories,' he thought. Either way fighting himself wasn't something particularly new to him, or X. It seemed the would-be conquerors he and X had faced so often had a thing for trying to copy him. "Why copy me?" he asked aloud, "X is more powerful."

The Nightmare didn't respond, not that he expected it to, and continued to fight him, copying every attack of his down to the finest detail. He found kuuenzan met with the gokumonken block, the ryuenjin met with a kuuenzan and hyouretsuzan met with raijingeki. It was frustrating to say the least, and he was beginning to think he'd need to change tactics. So quite abruptly he stood down, extinguishing his sabre and watching what the Nightmare's response was.

To Zero's surprise it too stood down. Its body lost its details while its skin and armour moulded together as it degenerated briefly into a purple-black blob of darkness. Then it began to reshape itself, changing, growing taller, thinner, and as its shape began to finalize Zero felt an overwhelming sense of fear and dread. He had no idea why, but the tall, thin, clouded shape in front of him was the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen and he backed up in terror as his power core beat faster and faster.

The new shape wasn't entirely visible; retaining the purple-black colour across its form. The shape though resembled a tall, thin man with strange bat wing shaped hair and a fluttering coat or cape behind him. The very sight was making Zero tremble, but he still had no idea why. His sabre dropped from his hand and clattered across the floor while he backed up in terror.

"Zero... my ultimate creation," the figure said, the voice cold and slightly accented. "You were made to serve me."

"I-I don't... who are you!" Zero stuttered in terror, backing up against a wall.

"You don't remember? I am your creator and master. Even without the virus you are still mine."

"I-I, no! Stop!" Zero cried, using his buster gun to shoot at the spectre. The bolts passed right through it and it advanced.

"You cannot do anything to me. Accept your past and perform the function you were made for; destroying Mega Man."

"No!" Zero cried.

"You would disobey your creator? Your master!" the figure cried angrily. It raised its hand and a flurry of purple-black lightning bolts arced from it. Zero felt them strike him and pain wracked his body every time they struck. "You are my greatest creation, the ultimate Wily Number; infinity. How dare you go soft!"

Zero cried out as the bolts struck him and, it seemed, some memories were jogged. He remembered some dreams he'd had, dreams of this same figure commanding him. The knowledge that they were memories came back to him as well, memories of his creator and greatest fear; Dr. Wily.

(((())))

Mega Man, upon entering his hall, was expecting a large number of things. There were plenty if illusory enemies he'd faced; like when Wily turned into an alien, only for a few shots from Bubble Man's weapon to reveal it was a holographic projector. Then there was the time he fought Gemini Man who was skilled at making illusory clones of himself. So this wasn't going to be difficult. That's what he thought anyways. What greeted him when he reached the midpoint of the hall was something he never thought he'd see, nor ever want to.

Standing in front of him was a robot identical to himself, except this one wore green armour instead of blue, black-purple armour where Mega Man was wearing the white and gold armour he'd acquired from Neo Arcadia, a yellow v-shape was on the robot's helmet and he wore shades that reminded him of his brother. "Oh..." Mega Man muttered, feeling his power core beat faster at the sight of his greatest fear; Quint, his own dark side personified.

"Hello Mega Man," Quint said with a twisted cheer in his voice.

"Myself, they want me to face my greatest fear; myself," Mega Man said, ignoring the greeting.

"Of course, nothing else would intimidate you. And I know it's working. I don't need to be you to see the fear in your eyes."

"It doesn't matter, I've beaten you before, I can beat you again," Mega Man retorted, firing at the green robot, who quickly jumped away and fired back. Mega Man mirrored Quint and dodged the attack.

"Come now Mega Man, must we really fight?" Quint asked, ducking under another shot, "Why fight want you want to do? Your deepest desires, your secret urges, just give into them. You know deep down how powerful you are, and more than once you've half-considered killing Wily and conquering the world yourself. You have the power to do so, why not? You could shape the world into any form you choose."

Mega Man gritted his teeth, not wanting to think about these dark urges. Of course this was true, he'd occasionally thought that things would be easier if he listened to his basic robotic logic and forced everyone to get along. But he was more advanced than that, and had a conscience besides. He wasn't like Bass who believed the best way to achieve a goal was to destroy anything in his way. Bass would even fight his own creator, which appalled Mega Man, even if the creator in question _was_ Dr. Wily. "I never listen to you, so I'm not starting now," Mega Man retorted, firing the Flamethrower across the hall and hitting Quint, causing the robot to stumble back with burn marks on his green armour.

"Why not?" Quint asked after taking a moment to regain his composure. "The power you unleashed in Lord Volt's towers, remember that? You can copy the powers of anyone; you could become a veritable god! Why deny your potential!

"You could destroy these elves if you let yourself go. Obliterate this city, destroy Sigma, your potential is limitless."

"I've thought about that," Mega Man replied, "And I always come to the same conclusion; that's not me. Perhaps that's what my basic logic tells me would be the best thing to do. But logic is to a robot like instinct is to humans. We've advanced enough to temper our logic with emotions."

"Perhaps that is true, but it's not always logic. Frustration, fury, despair; your darker emotions shaped me, and all you need to do is act on them to reach your ultimate potential. Become me again and you'll be able to destroy all the evil in the word. Fight fire with fire, use their own weapons against them."

"I…" Mega Man started, but found himself unable to continue. He had no idea why, it's not like Quint had hit a nerve or found a way to convince him. He just found the idea thought provoking. To an extent he already did exactly that; fight fire with fire. After all he copied the abilities of others and used them against his enemies.

"Channel your rage into power, let your enemies know despair as you leave them no hope of recovery or escape. You know you could do it, and then the peaceful world you want would be born."

"I could stop the violence," Mega Man muttered, "Could mercy be holding me back?"

"No!" crackled a voice over his communicator, surprising him. It was Psi, though his transmission sounded obscured by static. "Mega Man, don't listen to it."

"Psi?" Mega Man asked, seeing Quint's brow furrow at the mention.

"I'm transmitting to all of you, been trying for a while but they were blocking me. Guys listen to me; those things you've seen aren't real. They're all illusions."

"What?" Mega Man asked in disbelief.

"They made illusions, holograms of your worst fears and have been manipulating you with them. Don't listen to them, don't give them any heed, just fight your fears and move on."

"Of course!" Mega Man cried, "My age is getting to me, I should've seen through this already! They turned my greatest fear against me."

"It almost worked too," the Quint projection spat bitterly.

"I'm not going to become Quint again," Mega Man said strongly, "Now go away you stupid hologram." With that he blasted the image with Electric Bolt, disrupting the hologram and causing it to flicker and vanish like a TV turning off. Mega Man dashed to the end of the hall and opened the door with ease.

On the other side of the door was a large, domed room with a large console in the center shaped like an octagon and divided into eight sections based on each side. Each section had a computer screen and a bunch of controls, plus a small palm reader, a rather typical feature he was finding in the city. It wasn't long until the rest arrived, looking shaken but mostly fine. What they'd faced he doubted was any less terrifying than what he had. "Is everyone feeling okay?" he asked.

"I… I think so," Axl replied, wiping what seemed to be tears from his cheeks.

"Thanks for the help Psi," Net said, much of his usual cheer drained, like Axl.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get through to you sooner," Psi replied somberly, "I'm sure it was traumatic for all of you to face your fears like that."

"Well thanks to you we did face them, or else I'd still be sitting back in that hall," said Axl, "Now come on, I owe someone the business end of my pistols for messing with my emotions."

"Agreed," Net said.

"Alright, well registration is really easy," Psi said, "When you finish just go back to the exit teleport. The elevator won't leave until all registered users are on board."

Mega Man went ahead and used the computer, and palm reader, to register himself, while the others did the same. When each of them was done they dashed back down the hallways and back to the exit teleports. After the hell they'd all just been through, Mega Man was glad they had an easy payoff. He only needed to wait a few minutes at the elevator, where the two dogs and the elves were waiting, before everyone else appeared from the stones.

They said goodbye to the new Cyber-Elves, who opted to stay behind and fight, and then they were going, being carried upwards by an energy platform in a column of light. It was a weird sensation, to be carried up towards the dark sky and then passing through it. While the sky and weather were controlled and artificial, Mega Man still found it to be a surreal experience. "Anyone else find that weird?" he asked as the passed out of the level below and through the empty space and building material between. "Being carried through the sky."

"Yeah a little," Glace said.

"I think we should have a talk about what we went through in those tunnels," Zero suggested, surprising everyone.

"Really? You want to talk?" Axl asked, surprised.

"I told you I've changed since you last knew me," Zero replied.

"We know, but you still seemed to have been more about thinking and less about talking," Mega Man noted, "Yet I think he has a point. When we arrive I think we should set up camp somewhere."

"And Mega Man's suggesting resting; the world's turned upside down!" Axl joked.

"Yeah, well, after what we just went through I think it's for the best."

The elevator came to a stop in the middle of a large, gothic city under a black, starless sky, though there was a faint purple-red glow permeating the entire city. The skyline around them was dotted with sharp, gothic spires, flying buttresses, large, but broken, windows and all made from some of the sturdier, futuristic materials that Mega Man had seen that seemed like a mix between metal, stone and plastic. The houses that he could see were dark, decrepit mansions that looked more like haunted houses.

"It's like Batman mixed with Dracula," Axl commented as he looked around.

"It's not that bad," Mega Man said.

"If you're a vampire."

"Well let's find a place to rest; I'm sure one of these houses will do." The group moved to a nearby mansion and pushed the rotting doors open with a creak. Inside the house was just as dingy and decrepit as it was outside.

"I thought the idea was to rest from facing our fears, not make me do it again," muttered Site nervously.

"We're not, all the ghosts here are illusions or cyber-elves, and they can't get inside my little light field here," Glace said as she set up the emitter. The disinfecting light shone from it as she finished, lighting up the house and removing the dark taint to it. It still looked ruined, but no longer looked as creepy.

"Okay," Psi said, taking a seat on one of the ruined couches, "Our experiences in the tunnels." One by one each of the kids related their experiences, though Mega Man held out, letting Psi go before him. "I think it's pretty obvious who I encountered," Psi said after everyone had finished, "Dr. Weil; the guy who controlled me my whole life, because mother was never there. She left me to rule a nation like I was supposed to know what to do when we had an energy crisis. The only advice I got was this remote voice. He said he was from Neo Arcadia, so I listened to him.

"His advice made sense, at least I thought so, and then it got me killed. Then he brought me back and started whispering in my ear directly, and I guess because I'm an idiot I listened to him again. I don't know why, but he has the ability to control me very easily, and I'm afraid of him." Psi finished the hurt and humiliation clear in his voice, as well as the fear at experiencing the situation again.

"So we know that Axl's afraid of rejection, Net's afraid of loss, Site's afraid of ghosts, Glace is afraid of spiders, and Zero's afraid of his old virus," Mega Man surmised.

"Well… I guess it's not so much ghosts as being helpless," Site mused. "I don't want to be faced with something I can't fight. Not after my heart problem. I don't ever want to be like that again."

"Dude, you know that won't happen," Net assured his brother, "You always find ways to beat things. Math tests, soccer games, half pipes, and Chaud."

"Thanks Lan," said Site.

"Glace, you said the spider was taunting you about your spy nature," Zero said abruptly, "Is it possible that it's not spiders that you're actually afraid of?"

"I suppose," Glace muttered.

"I kinda want to know more about this spy stuff you did," Axl said.

"What are you thinking about?" Mega Man asked, noticing a dreamy expression on Axl's face.

"Glace in a spy suit," Axl said, "It's a hot image."

"Axl!" Mega Man snapped, "That's rude."

"Calm down Mega Man, I'm ignoring him," Glace replied quickly, "But he's right to an extent; I probably should tell you the whole story."

"Are you sure?" asked Mega Man quietly, "We all have secrets, and we don't need to tell them. Not until we feel ready anyways."

"I do feel ready," Glace assured, "We're friends, so I owe it to you." She took a deep breath and began.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

Glace watched from the sidewalk with her father as a group of reploids were led down it by a Pantheon squad, being sent towards the tower that dominated the city skyline. It was becoming a daily sight, innocent robots deemed 'mavericks' and marched off for termination. As a reploid herself she was constantly worried she'd be next, but according to her father and creator she'd been created specially to be able to dodge all sensors and pass as human. She really hoped that part worked in practice instead of just theory. "Daddy, can't you do something?" she asked her father.

"I would love to pumpkin, but… well even money doesn't carry too much power here," Ken Kernighan, her creator, explained quietly. Despite his wealth he didn't often show it, dressing like a normal person and Glace imitated the habit, though like all Neo Arcadians they both wore their black form fitting outfit under their clothes. Other than that Ken was in his forties with greying brown hair and a slight beard and a fair complexion. His blue eyes gleamed in his face and made him seem several years younger than he was.

"But…" Glace protested as the group was loaded into an armoured van and carried off into the city. "How can you do nothing?"

"Because there's nothing I can do," Mr. Kernighan explained, "Glace if I could do something then I would, but I'm not a fighter and I can't jeopardize you or anyone else close to me by doing something too risky. Things will change one day, but for now let's just go home."

Glace frowned at this information, but she knew her father was right. There would be too much at risk if he were to do anything hasty. At the same time she felt sad and infuriated about the treatment of her fellow reploids. 'X is a robot himself, how can he do something like this to his own people?' she thought as her father drove them home. Still, the oppressive regime had taught her to keep her emotions to herself.

She was still contemplating X when they got home; home being a fairly large suburban house, and when she got inside she went immediately to her room. There she collapsed on her bed and sighed. "If daddy can't do anything than maybe I should," she mused to herself. Her room wasn't particularly girly, it was blue and decorated with a poster for the East Arcadian Eels, the soccer team for her section of Neo Arcadia and posters of some of her favourite players, as well as shelves cluttered with models of fictional characters and objects. Notably there was a model of her favourite historical figure; Mega Man the Forebearer, the greatest robot ever created, in her mind anyways.

With another sigh Glace got off her bed and sat down at her computer. The first thing she looked at were news pages, specifically for anything that mentioned the Resistance. After a year and a half of seeing the oppressiveness that the reploids were being subjected to, Glace had discovered the stories about the group called the Resistance. In particular she idolized Ciel, the young human girl and prodigy who led the group and was working on discovering a new method of energy production. Since it was an energy crisis that had led to X taking these tyrannical new methods to ruling Neo Arcadia, Glace was sure that Ciel would be able to end the conflict by completing her research.

"Maybe I should join the Resistance," Glace joked to herself. On the Neo-net she came across several stories saying that tensions were increasing between the Resistance and Neo Arcadia and something about reports of fights between Neo Arcadian Pantheon forces and Resistance Militia. The more she read, the more she was beginning to wonder if things might be even worse than she'd thought. "Neo Arcadia probably shot first," whispered Glace to herself. Her theory only felt supported by the official news stories telling extremely biased reports that she was sure couldn't fool anyone.

"Yeah… I _should_ do something," Glace said, "Mega Man didn't just sit around when things were getting bad, and I won't either!"

((()))

Glace took a moment to pause her story and catch her breath. The boys were all entranced, and Mega Man in particular was feeling extremely flattered. "You chose to help the Resistance because of what I once did?" he asked with surprise.

"Well, yeah," Glace affirmed, "The fighting had only barely begun and you decided to put a stop to it. Violence had been escalating in Neo Arcadia for months, years even, and I figured it was time I started working to help end it."

"I… wow," Mega Man gasped. "You okay Psi?" he asked, noticing the reploid looking uncomfortable.

"It's just… you know, that was the old me in that story, I don't like thinking about that time."

"Oh… sorry Psi," said Glace apologetically.

"It's okay, it's all the past now," Psi replied calmly.

"So Copy X's tyranny made you decide to join the Resistance," Zero summed up, "How did you actually contact them?"

"Well…"

((()))

Several days after making her decision, Glace was sitting in the house's small workshop tinkering with a two-way radio; or base-communicator as they were called now. Shaped like an arch about a foot long, two inches wide and six inches tall at the highest. A small microphone was situated on the top that could telescope out, a speaker on the front and a jack for headphones to attach just below. The frequency tuner was a digital interface, a small quarter-circle shaped touch screen that folded into the side of the communicator.

"I have no idea how I'll find the frequency the Resistance uses," she said to herself, "I'll just fish around until I find the right one." She wasn't really sure how she'd know when she found their frequency either, but she was sure she'd think of something.

With a few more tweaks to make sure it would work right when accessing encrypted signals Glace turned the communicator on and plugged headphones into the jack. Then it was a matter of searching the frequencies; which was easier said than done. Not to mention she still had no idea how she'd know when she was talking to the right people.

"Guess I'll just ask for Dr. Ciel or something." She tuned through the frequencies, mostly finding government propaganda or music, occasionally finding a call frequency used by a Pantheon squad. Then she noticed that there was one frequency that the communicator was detecting from somewhere beyond Neo Arcadia. That area was a wasteland though due to the Elf Wars, so the people had to have come from Neo Arcadia. The signal was faint, and heavily encrypted, but it was there. "Found them!"

After a few moments trying to tap into the signal she finally managed and heard a male voice speak on the other end. "Hello? Who is this?"

"I-is this Resistance HQ?"

"It depends on who's asking?"

"I'm Glace Kernighan, daughter of Ken Kernighan."

"You're human then? Why are you contacting us?"

"I'm not human! I'm a reploid, and I want to talk to Dr. Ciel."

"How can we trust you? You tapped into our communications without any authorization."

"I didn't know how to contact you so I had to modify my own communicator to be able to pick up hidden wavelengths."

"That proves you're smart, it does not prove you're trustworthy."

"I want to help the Resistance."

"Do you?"

"Yes! I can't just sit here while reploids get dragged away to be shut down for no reason. It's barbaric! I want to find out what's come over X, and if you won't let me help then I'll work solo."

There was a pause on the other end, as though the speaker was considering her. Then when at last he spoke he sounded slightly less hostile "Very well, I'll patch you through to Dr. Ciel."

There was a pause in which Glace waited without breathing, something she had no trouble doing thanks to being artificial, and then a sweet and intelligent sounding voice spoke that sounded to Glace like a big sister or favourite babysitter. "Hello, this is Ciel, are you still there Glace?"

"Yes! I'm here! Dr. Ciel I'm so honoured to be speaking with you," Glace cried cheerily.

"Pleasure's all mine," Ciel replied with a giggle. "I'm told you want to help the Resistance."

"Yes. I don't know why X has lost his mind, but I know that the tyranny has to stop. I'll do anything I can, but…"

"But…?"

"I can't move to the Resistance HQ. I need to stay with my father."

"I see, so you want to remain in the city… I suppose you could perform recon and espionage."

"You mean spy?"

"Unfortunately yes, things aren't quite moving towards the peaceful resolution I wanted, so having someone inside could be very helpful."

Glace took a moment to consider this offer and always came up with the same problem; if she was caught then she wouldn't be able to fight her way out. If she had a way to do that, then she'd be all for the idea. "I'm a civilian model," she explained to Ciel, "I can cause a few ice bursts, but nothing that'll help me spy."

"Hmm… I might be able to get Cerveau to make something for you. I know you're not willing to come to our HQ permanently, but I could set up a short visit for you to retrieve what Cerveay makes," Ciel suggested. "We'll just need a place and time to pick you up."

"Okay, just give me a date and location to meet and I can do that."

"Four o'clock on Wednesday in the Industrial Sector, Factory Thirty-Four," Ciel said, which put the meeting date in two days.

"I'll be there," Glace said, and cut the transmission. With that done she felt both anxious and satisfied that she'd soon get to help with the fight.

((()))

"So that's pretty much how I got started," Glace finished. "I met with Resistance guards and they teleported me to their base. That's where I met Alouette and Ciel. They gave me a spy suit, which was more these pieces of black armour for my chest, legs, forearms, waist, shoulders and boots. They just attached to my bodysuit. The forearm armour had wrist cartridges with knockout gas and a grappling cable, and I got a little communicator too."

"I don't really see why that's so bad," Mega Man said.

"Because I lied to get into places, I fought dirty, I killed from behind, it had to be done, and… I enjoyed it back then. Maybe it was just the rush from sneaking around, or maybe I was just a little overzealous, all I know is I performed my role extremely well, and it left a fear in me of being caught."

"It was war," Zero said, "Sometimes you have to do things you're not proud of."

"He's right," Mega Man added, "I'm hardly guiltless of things like that. I don't think any of us are guiltless. What we've done and experienced has left fears in us, but I think those fears serve as reminders to us of the mistakes we made and that we shouldn't make them again."

"I hadn't thought of that," Glace muttered.

"Anyways come on, enough focusing on the past, we have too much going on here in the present," Mega Man said, jumping to his feet. "We have two layers of city to cover and then we can put an end to this nightmare once and for all."

"You're right," Glace replied after a long pause, "Yeah let's finish this."

"You know for someone who didn't want us along, you've been doing a lot to keep us going," Axl said, standing and stretching.

"Because I can't do this without you," Mega Man replied, "I learned that earlier."

"Alright so," Psi began, tapping buttons on his gauntlet and causing a holographic map to appear above it, "Sorry about the Elf Wilds, I don't have map data of that place; but I do have one of the city. So the Elf City is divided into two layers; Lesser Elves live in the lower one, where we are now, and Greater Elves live in the upper one."

"And then the Dark Queen's lair is above that?" Mega Man asked.

"The Dark Palace, yes," Psi affirmed.

'I'll have to decide what to do soon,' Mega Man thought, 'Though Atla, Mun and Lem can give me the ability to cleanse dark elves; then maybe…'

"The elevators are over on the edge," Mun said, "If memory serves."

"Weird to be heading to edges for a change," said Net.

"Yeah," agreed Mega Man, "Okay; let's pack up and move out."

Not long after they began making their way through the narrow, cobbled streets of the gothic city they saw a pack of shadowy black wolf creatures round a corner ahead. They each possessed long horn-like ears that identified them as cyber-elves. Mega Man ordered everyone to stick to the wall and be quiet so they could avoid unnecessary fighting.

"Worgs," Psi whispered as the elves began to move away. "Those are worgs, just one of the many forms cyber-elves take."

"I miss shapeshifting," Atla sighed, "And the connection to cyberspace."

"You'll get it back," said Mega Man. He was listening to their surroundings intently, trying to discern if anything was coming their way. About ten minutes of walking after the worgs he began to hear sounds that seemed like marching. He had everyone follow him as he followed the sound through the streets, looking for the source. He was sure his curiosity would probably end up leading to bad news, but he countered this by arguing that if they knew where the source of the sound was then it'd be easier to avoid it.

They found the sound originating from one of the wider streets that ran perpendicular to the considerably narrower one the group currently stood in. They backed up against a wall to their left and crouched down. The sound came from several platoons of dark cyber-elves that bore older, humanoid forms that were about Mega Man's height, cyber-elves didn't seem to grow much bigger than that, and while they were clearly humanoid and clearly cyber-elves, the latter identification made clear by their large horn-like ears, their bodies were entirely covered in black armour that made any further identification impossible.

The helmets they wore had Y-shaped visors and an angular jaw-line, with a small spike just above the center vertex from which protruded a pair of slim acutely angled horns. The helmet itself seemed to cover the antenna-like portion of their ears. The rest of their armour was made from modern plasteel and similar materials, but had a slightly burnished, medieval look and style to it, primarily in the stylized spikes on the upper edges of the greaves and vambraces, while the rest of the armour had more hybridized look. And like Glace, Zero, Axl, and the Hikaris, they wore the same black skin-tight outfit under their armour. Each also bore a tattered black cape on their backs and a dual bladed energy rhomphaia.

"Aw dude, I want one of those," Net muttered, looking at the weapons, "What are they?"

"Rhomphaias, weapons used by ancient Greeks," Mega Man explained quickly, "Looks like these guys are getting ready for war."

"Yes, even without me they still have enough forces built up and quick-surface access points to help Sigma's war effort," Psi explained, "They'll use whatever remaining Pantheons as bodies to allow them to move beyond Neo Arcadia. Then they'll set up these receivers that allow the Dark Queen to use her matter manipulation powers in other places. There's no way the recovering nations can stand against the two pronged attack unless we get to the Palace soon."

"Right, let's get going," Mega Man said, turning around, only to see a buster pointing right at his face. Looking up he saw the buster belong to, well, himself. It was an exact copy of him; save for the eyes which were green instead of blue. On the roofs and buttresses around them more Copy Mega Men appeared and all with their busters pointed at them. Dark cyber-elves in the forms of dragons, dinosaurs, demons and monsters also appeared and readied to attack. "Aw crud," Mega Man groaned.

"You're under arrest for crimes against Her Dark Majesty," a voice called out, cold and hollow.

"Wait a minute!" Psi called out, "I was just bringing these prisoners to-"

"Lord General of the Reploid Forces, Copy X Mark III, you are hereby relieved of your authority and are charged with high treason. How do you plead?"

"Guilty!" Psi replied quickly. "And proud of it!"

"Then all of you will submit to your arrest or be executed on the spot. Even the Forebearer's power will be as naught before our numbers."

"He's right," Mega Man admitted dejectedly, "Just do as he says for now."

"But-" Net began to protest.

"Don't worry, just do as he says," Zero replied, "Trust that our leader knows what he's doing."

The group stood down and one of the Copy Megas bound their arms behind their backs with shackles linked by an energy chain. "Don't try to escape," the Copy Mega said, its voice identical to its source but without any hint of kindness or caring. "These shackles nullify all weaponry and can withstand any robot's strength level."

"Well I assumed you wouldn't shackle us with aluminum foil," Axl joked, "That would really foil your plans!"

"Silence!" a Copy Mega said, interrupting Axl's laughter.

"No sense of humour," Axl sulked. The group followed the escort as they were taken to a slim, sharp and yet well armoured military car; though it was more along the lines of a tank-jeep hybrid vehicle with a similar style to the armour the elves wore; black, slim and strong. A door on the side slid open upwards and the group was roughly pushed inside, with a Copy Mega joining them to keep guard. They all sat down on basic metal benches that were hardly comfortable, but at least let them sit.

"Where are we being taken?" Mega Man asked as the door closed and the vehicle started up.

"To the Imperial Prison in the level above. There you will be held until trial," the Copy Mega explained. Mega Man was finding that even after several hundred years and many copies of himself, the prospect of talking to an exact clone was still as bizarre as ever. Then of course there was the question of why they were here in the first place. His own blueprints were long gone, and nobody in the world had seen him until mere days ago. That had to mean somehow the elves had studied his design and began to create clones somewhere. However their numbers seemed to be their strength and Mega Man doubted they could hold up in a one-on-one fight with himself or any of his companions.

"The prison's on the second level of the Elf City," Psi explained, leaning back in his seat as much as his cuffed hands allowed.

"I hope you have a plan," Site whispered to Mega Man, who he was sitting next to.

"Just trust me," Mega Man said, "Do what Zero said and trust me."

The others sighed as the armoured car drove on through the dark city, waiting to see what Mega Man had in mind.


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

A trip through gothic streets and an elevator later had Mega Man and his friends being ushered out of the armoured car and into a large complex styled like a gothic castle, except for the presence of energy barriers atop the high outer wall and blast doors at the entrance. Dominating the skyline was a black, metal and stone tower with a sinister, spikey design, like some dark lord's fortress in a fantasy. It didn't take Psi whispering to him for Mega Man to know that it was their destination. The fact that this one nightmare was finally over was almost too good to believe.

A few pushes through blast doors and decently lit halls later had the group out of their cuffs and in a frosted glass fronted cell with steel walls a pair of bunk beds and a pair of dumbbells on the ground. "Why do they have weights in here?" Axl asked.

"Too many prison movies I think," Mega Man explained with a chuckle, grabbing one of the dumbbells, which weighed about eighty pounds, and tossed it into the air casually, and catching it again like it was nothing. To him, a robot, it pretty much _was_ nothing. Net grabbed one and lifted it easily too, using the extra strength the suit granted him.

"This is awesome," he said, "I could never lift something like this without the suit."

"So apparently some of our abilities work in here, the cell is just-" Mega Man began.

"Impervious to them, yes," Psi finished. "So what's this plan you have?"

"Well it's simple really. Just look around and tell me who you don't see."

There was a pause as everyone carried out his instruction, and realization dawned on all their faces immediately. "The elves and the dogs," Site said, "I guess being forgotten worked to their advantage here."

"Yes, I had them get back while we were being arrested," Mega Man explained, "And while they catch up to us, I have another part of this plan."

"What else is there?" Zero asked.

"Well these copies are still based on me," Mega Man explained, "Meaning they're still me to some extent, and because of that I should be able to take control of one if we can get our hands on it."

"Sounds like a good plan until that point," Site said, "Any idea how we get our hands on one of those Copy Megas?"

"Um, no," Mega Man said sheepishly, "I'm still working on that, but I'm just going to wait for an opportunity. Rush'll come through, he always does."

((()))

"Any directions Miss Scout? Or you three?" Rush asked, indicating the cyber-elves with the latter comment. The group, after separating from the androids, were now rather lost in the narrow streets of the gothic city.

"It's a good thing our system doesn't recognize robodogs as true entities," Atla muttered.

"Although discriminatory, I agree that it's an oversight that has been of great assistance. You didn't answer my question though."

"Oh! Um… all roads lead to Rome, so…" Mun said.

"In other words you have no idea?" Rush asked.

"Well, no. But we saw where they were taken, so we should be able to figure out the way to the elevator."

"I know!" Lem cried as loud as he dared, "Net and Site are humans, so they'll have left a scent. You two can sniff around for him and follow the scent to them."

"That's… actually a good idea," Rush admitted, and began to sniff, Scout helping him. Rush, for his part, smelled something faint that could be Net's scent, but it was so vague that it could be his imagination. "Do you smell anything Miss Scout?"

"Perhaps Mr. Rush, but I can't be certain. I think we should move in the direction the scent appears to be coming from and we can determine from that if we're heading in the right direction."

"Agreed," Rush said. As luck would have it the scent did indeed become stronger as they followed it, and after perhaps an hour the two dogs were able to agree with certainty they'd found the trail. At this point it was merely a matter of not getting caught by the cyber elves or Copy Megas. As robodogs who weren't considered true entities and who were fairly small, this was a relatively easy task. Rush was a little more concerned with Atla, Lem and Mun who were now renegades and cyber-elves and so bound to be high on the hit list. As such he had them hover very close to the ground.

After following the scent through twisting, turning back roads the elevator finally came into sight at the end of a very narrow alley that exited onto a very shadowed section of the main street. It was then they realized the second problem; getting on the elevator, or one of them anyways as there were several. Cyber-elf soldiers guarded the entrances heavily, and a couple of the elevators delivered robot troops every few minutes, usually Copy Megas. "So we have to get on one of those elevators after it's made a delivery and yet not get caught by the guards," Lem summed up.

"That would seem to be the case, yes," Rush confirmed, "I should have enough energy for a couple shots, but I don't want to waste them and have the city alerted to us."

"Well Mr. Rush, I have a cloaking device that Lord Bios discovered. I might be able to put that to use, though it won't last long."

"Hmm," Rush muttered in thought, "Elves, do those energy fields you summon reflect cannon fire?"

"Maybe one or two shots," answered Mun.

"That should be enough."

"What are you thinking Mr. Rush?" Scout asked.

"I might have a plan on how to get past the guards. Come on; let's see if we can get a little bit closer first." They backed up down the alley to the backstreet it connected to and moved further along, looking for another passage that would lead them to the main street again. They found one, though it was even more narrow than the last one; barely more than a crevice between a church and a creepy looking townhouse.

"So what's the plan?" Atla asked as they squeezed through the passage.

"I want you three to create an energy field. I'm going to shoot it and you're going to angle the field so the shot bounces away. It'll create a distraction where it hits and Scout will cloak us while we make a break for the elevator," Rush explained. "It's risky, but Master Mega Man is counting on us."

"True dat," Lem agreed. The elves hovered back to the other end of the passage and between them formed a triangle-shaped field of energy between them. They angled it so Rush's shot would bounce off correctly and when they were ready Atla waved with her foot as a signal. Rush opened his mouth and fired a bolt of plasma from it. The bolt struck the field and, as expected, bounced off and shot down the street. Rush's shots were silenced, especially when the cannon was left retracted, but the explosion it made when it crashed into the wall of a cathedral was definitely not.

The army, guards included, marched off to investigate the sounds and Scout activated her cloaking field. The two robodogs and the trip of elves huddled close together so they field would cover them all and they moved as fast as they could from their hiding spot towards the elevators. The plan was working perfectly. Then a voice they hadn't heard for days, since they first arrived, spoke out. "You idiots!" the voice of Detruis or Deses called; Rush found they both sounded the same. "You're being tricked!"

"Hurry," Rush whispered, as the group made a hurried dash into the closest elevator, just as the cloaking field dropped and the elf army turned around and charged back towards them. Then they were riding up and Rush had to think of a new plan. It didn't matter if they were discovered or if he was destroyed in the process; his master was counting on him to succeed.

"Well that was unfortunate," Atla said, "The Dark Twins finally decide to show themselves at the worst possible time."

"We'll just have to think of a new plan," said Rush, "But we absolutely cannot fail."

"We won't fail. My mistress is with them as well. But I can't think of anything," Scout added.

When the elevator came to a stop they crept out slowly to see the road branching off to the left and right, curving with the wall, while right in front of them was the high stone wall of a prison, topped with coils of barbed wire and with watch towers stationed along the wall. Guards could be vaguely seen stationed in those towers, and searchlights scanned the roads around the prison. The only entrance was a pair of heavy sliding blast doors that were currently sealed shut.

The dogs and elves crouched behind a cement barrier bordering the outer edge of the road. If the dark elves had decided to pursue them before, they seemed to have either given up or lost them, but Rush was sure they felt it unnecessary. Neo Arcadia had its prisoners and a pair of robodogs and a trio of underdeveloped cyber-elves were hardly any threat. He even saw a troop of dark elf soldiers march by and into one of the elevators, completely ignoring him despite being very poorly hidden.

"Guess they don't feel threatened by an underdog," Atla joked.

"I do actually have teeth Atla," said Rush.

"Sorry. So… maybe we could tunnel in like in that movie. You know, the one where the guy gets chucked in prison and tunnels his way out."

"Shawsank Redemption?" Rush asked, "I believe the man in that movie actually tunneled out with a rock hammer."

"Oh yeah…"

"Then let's just circle it," Lem suggested, "We're bound to find something."

"I hope so," Rush muttered, "Because I can't think of anything."

They walked across the road and followed the prison wall, but tried to keep enough distance that they would be ignored by the guards. They walked in relative silence, occasionally whispering to each other to get a closer look at anything that looked like a weakness or an oversight. But they had walked at least two-thirds of the way around the wall and found nothing. "Well… I think they're right to ignore us," Scout muttered, "Because I don't think there's anything we can do."

"There's always something we can do," Rush replied, though he was still out of ideas as much as the rest. There were other buildings in the level; factories mostly, though there were some large cathedrals and temples which crackled with power at their highest point under thicker clouds than the rest of the city. They seemed to be where the elves harnessed their dark fire from. There wasn't any bare ground to speak of, just cement.

"And I'm here to do it," said a rough, cocky voice that sounded similar to Phantom's. Rush looked around to see Fefnir standing beside them, transparent and ghost-like and garbed in a red robe. He had the same helmet as his imitator and was ready to grinning confidently while his eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Fefnir?" Scout said with surprise.

"Stand aside doggies, I'll show you how a real warrior busts open a prison," said Fefnir, summoning his twin cannon weapon.

"But you're one of the exiled elves," Atla said with surprise.

"Yeah, but thanks to Lord Mega Man us good elves have regained most of our strength. Let me show you!" His cannon glowed as it charged up and then he launched a ball of superheated plasma that smashed into the prison wall where it exploded. "Oh yeah… that was fun," Fefnir whispered joyfully. He fired more shots, smaller than the first, but each exploding with the force of a bomb and so quickly that Rush could see nothing through the smoke and flame.

Fefnir slowed his fire and with a couple final shots he stopped. When the smoke and haze cleared Rush could see the thick metal walls had a huge section melted clean away, leaving molten puddles on the ground and the edges of the wall glowing red hot. Dark Elf Soldiers and Copy Megas rushed towards the gap and Fefnir grinned, "Come at me! It's been decades since I've had this much fun! Let's see how many I can take out before I get tired," he cried and charged forward to meet them, using his weapon and bare fists in equal measure.

Rush took this as their queue and led the group right through the gap and past the one-man war Fefnir was waging. They ran through the gap and around the courtyard, trying to use speed and Fefnir's distraction to their advantage. When they came to the front doors they used a combined shot to blast a hole in it and immediately ducked down behind a wall to hide as soldiers appeared near the doors. It was a hindrance, but for Rush the fact they'd gotten this far was joyous, and he was going to make sure he made it the rest of the way.

((()))

"I think I have an idea," Axl said with a slightly mischievous grin.

"Uh oh," Zero muttered.

"Glace, would you be up to using a little feminine charm on one of these Copy Megas?" Axl asked.

"Some what?" asked Glace, bewildered.

"You know, a little batting your eyelashes, puckering the lips," Axl explained.

"You mean, um, flirt?"

"If that's what you want to call it."

"But I can't-"

"Sure you can. What robot could resist someone with your gorgeous construction?" Axl asked, "The answer is none."

"Oh, thank you," stuttered Glace, blushing furiously, "It's not that I don't know how, it's just embarrassing."

"You just have to get one of them to open the cell door, the rest of us will just pretend we're asleep," explained Axl, "Come on, I'm sure it'll work!"

"That has to be the stupidest idea I've ever heard," Zero said bluntly.

"Perhaps, but it might be good to humour him," Mega Man said at last, "I know I once saw Roll try something like that, and she'd kill me if she knew I just mentioned it to you."

"How do we get one of them here though?" Net asked, "They didn't seem that interested in sticking around their prisoners."

"I say we just attack the glass. Our combined efforts might rattle it enough to draw the attention of someone," suggested Site.

"But then wouldn't that defeat the purpose of us pretending to be asleep?" Zero asked.

"Then maybe just have Glace attack the glass."

"I think I'll just pound on it," Glace said at last, "That usually seems to work."

"Okay," Mega Man said, dropping onto one of the beds, while the rest of the guys except Glace all laid down too.

"These are actually more comfortable than they look," Net commented, only to have everyone shush him. Glace began banging her fists on the glass, which did little more than shiver at blows that would easily shatter any window. The strength of robots was obviously well considered in the design of the cells. It took a long time for anyone to appear, but after what Mega Man figured was almost forty minutes of banging, one of the Copy Megas appeared.

"Why in Arcadia are you making that infernal racket!" it yelled angrily.

'Did I just hear my voice say infernal racket?' Mega Man thought indignantly, 'Maybe they're not as much like me as I thought.'

"I'm sorry cutie, but I didn't know how to get your attention," Glace said, adopting a flirtatious tone, "It just gets lonely in here without a handsomely constructed robot like you."

"O-oh," the Copy Mega stuttered, beginning to back away, though half-heartedly.

"Don't leave sweetie, let me see how good your construction is. I bet you were given extra work to be that built-well."

"But I could get in trouble," it replied quietly.

"Don't be worried about that, a little kissing to prove just how fine your synthetics are isn't going to hurt," Glace whispered back, "Come on you built-well computer, you know you want to."

The Copy Mega hesitated for a moment before opening the cell door, at which point Glace smashed it on the head with an iced up fist, knocking it to the floor where it lay dazed. Mega Man jumped up from his head and pinned his clone to the floor while placing his fingers at its temples to interface with it.

As he'd guessed its programming was very similar to his, almost identical in fact, though with rather reduced personality programming. It wasn't difficult to spread his programming into it, like a computer virus. And once there he found that, once again as he'd guessed, all Copy Megas were linked as a network which he promptly spread into as well. It took a few moments as he worked through the system, but at last he felt all the Copy Mega units fall under his single consciousness.

"Woah, this is weird," Mega Man said, getting to his feet in both his body and the Copy Mega's body.

"What is it?" Glace asked.

"Being in the Copy Mega network means I'm in control of every single Copy Mega unit. It's like having a hundred extra arms, eyes and legs," he explained, speaking from both his present bodies.

"That's kinda creepy," Net muttered. "What now?"

"I'm looking for Rush," explained Mega Man looking through every pair of eyes at his disposal. Wherever a unit was in position to strike dark elves, he did so, but he tried not to get distracted with too much fighting.

"So… what does 'built-well' mean?" Net asked, "Wouldn't being called a 'built-well computer' be insulting?"

"Oh, no, it's like saying, um, what is it humans say?" asked Glace nervously.

"Sexy beast," Axl explained.

"There they are!" Mega Man cried, spotting the dogs a short distance away from a red robed elf who was viciously fighting everything who came in range. "Come on, follow me." Mega Man dashed off and the others followed; the copy included.

"Why're you bringing the other one?" Glace asked as they ran.

"Back up."

"You think we'll need him? You must have a couple hundred others," Net said.

"It's always good to have as much help as possible." They pushed open a door into the entrance area of the prison to see a squad of dark elf soldiers standing ready with their weapons. "And this is why," Mega Man added before firing, using the Copy Mega to assist. The soldiers fought back, but seemed to lack any ranged abilities, causing a number of them to be shot down by Mega Man, Axl or Site before they could get near the group. Meanwhile Net and Zero waged into the thick of the fighting with their blades flashing at every slice.

It didn't take long for the room to be cleared, and the group gathered up again, rushing the doors and busting outside. They emerged into a battlefield, blast marks and scattered armor littering the pavement, the Copy Megas assisting while a red-robed figure tore through elf after elf. "Master!" Rush shouted, dashing towards them, tail wagging vigorously. "You're free!"

"Yup," Mega Man replied, "Managed to grab control of the knock offs too."

"So _that's_ why they suddenly altered their affiliation."

"Yeah, who's the red guy?"

"Fefnir!" Glace cried.

"Hey snow princess," Fefnir cried, swatting away an elf soldier before lowering his weapons and approaching the group while the Copy Megas finished clearing out the cyber elves inside the prison walls. "You guys sure took your time getting up this far."

"So the reploid elves can fight again," Mega Man surmised, "Then perhaps you can take us to the palace so we can end this once and for all."

"I'd prefer to keep ripping these morons apart, but I guess they'll all be targeting you so that should be fun," said Fefnir, "Alright, follow me."


End file.
